The Student of Toad and Slug
by HeWhoEscapesReality
Summary: After the successful sealing of the Nine-Tailed Fox into Naruto, Jiraiya decides to pursue his duties as Godfather and takes Naruto away from Konoha to raise him away from the village with the aid of Tsunade and Shizune. They return thirteen years later when Orochimaru rears his ugly head... How will the Sannin-trained boy shake up the shinobi world and his place of birth, Konoha?
1. 1: Prologue

**The Student of Toad and Slug**

**A/N: I'm taking a bit of a break from the Harry Potter Universe and am writing some Naruto FF again. Yay. Another "what if" based story. I tend to drift in and out of Japanese and English terms, feel free to contact me for any uncertainties. Don't worry, for those reading my HP story, there's more coming soon.**

**Note: Pairings not decided yet as this point, I'm open to anything though. **

**Note 2: I normally heavily dislike the Anime for its fillers, but I couldn't resist making use of the first Movie with Yukie. She'll make several appearances and play her important role later on.**

**** ALERT: If you are NOT up to date with the manga, I recommend that you do not read this as many things will be spoiled starting from this very chapter. You have been warned. ****

Chapter 1: Prologue.

It had started as a day like any other. Jiraiya had gotten up sometime in the late afternoon with his customary hangover, courtesy of a standard night out in the moderate sized village's local red-light district. A peek here, a feel there, a sip in between and the continent-wide famous author and shinobi had found his fun.

After dragging himself out of his generously sized hotel room, the white-haired legend helped himself to an obscenely sized meal at a random ramen stand down the street from where he'd been staying at. Seeing a calendar in the restaurant, Jiraiya frowned at the prospect of the incoming deadline for the next instalment of his best-selling Icha Icha series. Naturally, the aforementioned frown quickly turned into a lecherous grin at the prospect of conducting more research, all in the name of literary science, of course.

With the aid of his trusty telescope, the aging pervert had perched himself in a tree overshadowing a female-only public bath house, the kind that could be found in any village on the continent.

Not even an hour had passed before the average day turned into one of the most dramatic in Jiraiya's life and given the Sannin's accomplished life that was saying something.

The town the pervert had set up shop in for a while was a mere three hour distance away from his beloved home, Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. As Jiraiya conjured the most graphically explicit scenes in his self-proclaimed genius mind, a tremendous spike of chakra assaulted his experience-honed senses. Nearly dropping his telescope, Jiraiya froze. His mind immediately knew what kind of being could give off such oppressing power, causing his heart rate to nearly double in a mere moment, especially since the direction of the chakra was none other than Konoha itself.

With the sights of scantily clad women long forgotten, Jiraiya leapt out of his peeking spot, drawing blood from his thumb in the process and forming the seals for the Summoning Technique in mid-air. His sandal covered feet never touched the ground as he summoned the fastest toad he knew, who immediately leapt off to the direction of Konoha, not needing any instruction from his summoner - a clear sign of synergy developed over decades of trust and teamwork.

'_Hold on Minato,' _Jiraiya grimly thought, _'I'm coming.'_

**- Break -**

Nothing had gone to plan. Everything had gone to shit the second Naruto had been born. Kushina's ANBU guard was dead, killed by a masked man. Minato had barely managed to save Naruto, only to have her kidnapped instead. The Nine-Tailed Beast had been extracted from her, leaving her extremely weak, barely alive.

In a fit of rage, the legendary beast went on a rampage. Realizing that the only way to stop it was to seal it again, hopefully back into Kushina, Minato had summoned Gamabunta, bombarded it with the strongest ninjutsu he knew, and baited the Kyubi away from Konoha, towards the remote location where Kushina was.

"Bunta!" He yelled to the toad mid-leap, "Where is Jiraiya-sensei!?"

"On his way," The Boss Toad grunted, "he's with my nephew, the fastest runner we have."

Closing his eyes in resignation, Minato asked the question he didn't really want to know the answer to. "How long?"

"Too long." Was all Gamabunta could grimly answer with.

'_Shit.'_ They needed Jiraiya. Minato was considered a genius in every aspect of shinobi techniques, excelling in everything and being hailed as a master of Fuinjutsu, yet it had been his wife, Uzumaki Kushina, who had taught him the basics of everything he knew about sealing, and yet, Jiraiya still knew more than the two of them combined. The Fourth Hokage of Konoha flashed through a set of seals before slapping his hand on his summon's back, already reaching into his pouch to retrieve a pencil and piece of sealing paper as the small cloud of smoke disappeared.

Throwing the note to the toad, Minato instructed, "Find Jiraiya, give him that note, run as if your Boss' life depended on it!" The small carrier toad leapt off its boss' back in search of the white haired man.

"Bunta, we're running out of time. It's a matter of time before that masked bastard comes back, the wound I gave him won't be enough to stop him if he's powerful enough to break Kushina's seal. He isn't as fast as I am but he's very powerful, he can manipulate space and time at his will. We've stalled enough, it's time to finish this before it's too late for all of us."

"Are you sure about this, kid?" Gamabunta answered, despite knowing the answer already.

"I swore to protect this village and its people. I have to seal the demon even if it costs me my life, knowing that I saved at least my son is all I need!" Minato yelled resolutely, his voice surprisingly clear through the loudly rushing wind.

"Very well." Gamabunta conceded before abruptly stopping, turning around to face the incoming threat. With a gigantic leap the toad did what not even the rampaging Kyubi expected, as the two landed on the extremely large fox's head.

The Kyubi growled in anger at the toad restricting its movement. Minato's eyes closed in momentary concentration as he teleported himself, Gamabunta and their enemy to where Kushina and Naruto were.

Arriving at their destination, Gamabunta fought with all he had to restrain the Demon Fox for a few seconds longer to allow Minato to prepare. With a sadness rarely heard in the Toad Boss' voice, he spoke to his favourite summoner. "It's been an honour Minato, I could have never wished for a better man to fight alongside with."

"No Bunta, the honour was mine. Thank you for everything." Minato said, flashing the toad his trademark smile as the Kyubi broke free and Gamabunta disappeared in an explosion of smoke, forced to retreat back to his home.

Making use of his famed Hiraishin Jutsu, Minato appeared next to his weakened wife, cradling a small bundle in her arms.

**- Break -**

Jiraiya couldn't remember the last time he had cried, but this would be the one time he'd never forget for the rest of his life. He had been too late. The war veteran sunk to his knees next to the lifeless forms of the student that had been close enough to him to be his son, and his wife who he had come to love as much as his student. To him, Minato had never been the Yondaime Hokage or Konoha's Yellow Flash, no, to him he had always been the brash blonde kid with dreams bigger than the Hokage Mountain and potential larger than Tsunade's debts.

"I'm sorry…" Was all the hermit could manage to say through his sobs and tears, feeling as broken as he did the day Orochimaru had betrayed them.

A high pitched cry caused Jiraiya to look up and slowly get back on his unsteady feet. Stumbling across the torn up mud and dirt, the Toad Sage came to halt at a large, intact, piece of rock. In the middle of said rock lay a tiny bundle securely wrapped in a starkwhite blanket, causing the bright blue eyes of the little baby to stand out all the more against the grey rock. With careful deliberation, Jiraiya gently lifted the child out of the little crevice made in the stone for him, the sealing ink still not dry on the rock around him.

The little blonde bundle looked on in curiosity, examining the white hair of the big man with the most sincere of a newborn's innocence. Jiraiya had to do his best to suppress the tears that were threatening to rise once more. This was without a doubt the son of his student, Namikaze Minato, who had grown on him like a son and his wonderfully passionate wife, Uzumaki Kushina.

Naruto let out a sound of irritation – his tummy was itching and he didn't like it when it itched. So the little bundle of joy started kicking at the soft blanket until it moved, letting his displeasure being known to the world as well as providing some relief from the discomfort as his little knees and thighs rubbed his raw tummy.

As soon as the blanket fell away, Jiraiya's eyes were glued to the stomach of the infant, his experienced eyes analysing and dissecting the seal with a rapidness and urgency known to only the masters of the art, those who had been in situations where more than their own mere lives were at stake and a single mistake could have catastrophic consequences – such as the sealing of the highly dangerous Tailed Beasts.

Jiraiya sighed as he processed what he could from just glancing at the seal. Minato had truly outdone himself on this one, creating the only unbreakable seal to hold something as strong as the Kyubi; stronger than death could while bringing an arguable benefit to the host as the chakra could be controlled and regulated. He had even included a form of fail-safe, should the worst case scenario occur. The was only one flaw in the technique that Jiraiya could think of immediately – it would require the host to actually want to restrain the Kyubi and keep it locked away and not succumb to the pressure and undo the seal themselves. The alternate method of tampering with the flow of the Kyubi's charka was with a key that Jiraiya hadn't figured out quite yet – well, he hadn't even found the key yet.

It was an approaching presence that pulled the thoughtful Sannin out of his reverie. A small toad carrying a pouch came to a halt next to the only remaining summoner of the toads. It looked exhausted and worse for wear, but proudly fulfilled Minato's final request for the toads before disappearing in a plume of smoke.

Jiraiya held Naruto with one arm, putting the boy in reach of his trademark white hair which was immediately seized and pulled upon but the Sannin paid it no mind as he read the note left for him by his now late student.

_Sensei,_

_I'm sorry I can't say this to you in person. Thank you for everything you have taught me and done for me. I hate to do this, but I must ask you to take care and protect my son, Naruto. You are his godfather and the only one Kushina and I can trust freely._

_I'm sorry. It was fun, sensei._

_Minato_

**- Break -**

When Jiraiya was in his serious, "Sannin" mode, not much could faze him. If he wasn't goofing around, he was the man known across the global ranks of Shinobi as the Toad Sage, The Legendary Jiraiya. He had exceptional control over his body and mental facilities but he could not recall the last time he had been so very furious.

His sensei, Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, had stepped up to take the leadership of the village for now, given that he ranked the highest as a retired Hokage and the village could not afford to show any signs of weakness now, lest they wanted to tempt the ever ravenous villages such as Kiri, Iwa or Kumo.

An emergency council and clan meeting had been called for in which Jiraiya explained the events to the best of his ability before going into detail as much as he could about the seal, its purpose, its power, its genius. He purposefully left out the fact that Naruto was Minato's son, or that Kushina had been the container before Naruto.

Once done, all chaos had broken loose. The conference room had turned into an all-out fest of yelling, rage and overall arguments.

The "Konoha Council" consisted of several different layers, each with their own responsibilities, yet often overlapping and combining with other layers on certain matters. All said layers were assembled in the round room on the very top floor of the Hokage Tower.

The three most prominent and influential layers were the Civilian, Shinobi, and Advisor layers.

The Civilian Council consisted of two dozen civilian council members plus its head. These members were voted in by non-shinobi population of Konoha and normally lasted until the Head found a reason to remove them from the council or a majority vote of no confidence had been passed among the other members. Amongst these 25 civilians they elected the Head amongst themselves through a vote, not able to vote for themselves. This part of the Konoha Council was responsible for civilian matters. They screened building permits for new housing requested by the general population, they judged complaints worthy or not of the Hokage's attention, dealt with unions and businesses, but most of all, represented the non-fighting public to the leader of the village. Even though they held a certain level of political power, nothing they did or any law they could come up with would not pass until approved by the Hokage. This had been set up by the Shodaime Hokage to allow him and his ancestors to learn from those that did not shed blood, but still not giving them any concrete power over the village's leader.

The Shinobi layer consisted of Clan Leaders as well as prominent and powerful shinobi. Once a family of ninja was recognized as a clan by the Hokage and thus the rest of the council, the Clan's leader automatically received a spot on the council. Shinobi without family could become part of the council too, but normally needed the backing of the Hokage or at least several of the Clan Leaders to be put up for nomination. All the big and small clans were represented, ranging from the mighty Uchiha to the wild Inuzuka, genius Nara and ever mysterious Aburame. This layer of the council discussed and worked on issues regarding peace treaties with other Hidden Villages, special cases regaring Konoha's warriors as well as problems pertaining to special missions. They held far more political power over the Civilian layer, as disagreements inside the layer of the council could lead to nothing necessary being done, as well as distrust being sown between certain members of the Shinobi council and the leader of the village.

The Advisors were the two former team mates of the Sandaime and were considered war heroes. They held significant power within the council as everyone knew the Hokage would always listen to them, no matter what they brought to his attention. They drifted between council layers, ensuring that proper meetings were had as well as reminding all members that the possible decisions discussed needed to be beneficial to the village as a whole, otherwise an investment of human resources would allow for more work to be done each day. The Advisors held seats in every layer of the Council and were known to justify their actions with nothing but the good for the village in their mind.

It was a meeting of all these layers that had enraged Jiraiya more than what he knew what to do with. Anger and hate were two powerful emotions and could be made into a powerful tool if wielded correctly. They wanted to _kill_ Naruto and destroy the Yondaime's legacy. They wanted to experiment on him and meld him into their perfectly obedient weapon of mass destruction. They wanted to lock him up and never leave him out in fear or him killing everyone.

In the end, everyone wanted something different. Jiraiya was thankful for the few that didn't want to subject his godson to terrifying torture or immediate death, to those few willing to just treat him for what he was - a baby human being with a terrible burden placed upon it.

Allowing a minute slip on his emotions, the room immediately quieted and shifted focus to him, standing behind the Hokage's seat, leaning against the far wall of the room. The Civilians in the room froze at the suffocating feeling of Jiraiya's killing intent, cold sweat starting to drench their clothes.

The shinobi all quieted – none of them had felt such a powerfully oppressing killing intent on such a large scale, which only spoke volumes about the Sannin's mental capacity and well hidden powers.

"Look at yourselves," Jiraiya spoke in an icy, quiet tone, "doubting the work of your beloved Yondaime, the strongest ninja this village has seen since its founding. You are all fighting over what to do about a _baby._ You speak of executing him because you are all pathetically afraid. I know more than any of you about sealing techniques and I've run into hosts like Naruto before. The seal is unbreakable and the Kyubi would never try to break free on its own, knowing that it'll kill the container and thereby kill itself."

Silence reined the room as they took in what one of their living legends proclaimed. "He's just a little baby now and his capability to hurt anyone consists of him puking on you."

Once more, silence reigned through the room as no one dared to move against the oppressing tension radiating from the Sannin.

"If Minato was here right now, what do you think he'd do?" Jiraiya asked dangerously.

A moderate sized amount of the Council's members cringed or blanched at the thought of that.

"I doubt any of you would be alive right now if he stood here in my stead as you talk about killing a baby or experimenting on it to further your own little agendas." He continued, pushing himself off the wall and picking Naruto out of his little crib. "With your little display here I feel ashamed having to call myself a part of the same village as you insignificant worms and parasites. No, I will not let Minato's sacrifice go to waste by letting you sick bastards get your hands on Naruto to experiment on him. Do you think that it'd be such a wise idea to put him through suffering if he is the only one that can undo the seal? Don't you realize what that means? You'd all kill yourself and wipe out this village before you could even contact me. No one here has the power to subdue the Kyubi. Minato gave his life to save you all, I will not let his sacrifice be in vain."

After a short pause in which Jiraiya seemed to think thoroughly, he lifted Naruto with both arms to bring the baby to his eye level. Naruto giggled and kicked around with his legs at the sensation of being suspended in the air, his cerulean eyes taking in all the wondrous sights around him.

Allowing himself to smile slightly, Jiraiya brought the boy to his chest. "I'm taking him with me as I fear for his life should he stay here any further. I will make sure he is raised well and treated like Minato would have wanted him to. And one day I'll bring him back and you will see just how much of a demon he is."

Picking up the thread, the Sandaime continued, "And I will be passing a law the second this meeting is over in order to protect..."

**- Break -**

Jiraiya didn't waste any time. He made his way out of the room the second Sarutobi had taken over, introducing a law to protect the little infant's secret and heritage. He quickly found a weapons store that wasn't all banged up from the Kyubi attack and quickly purchased a shinobi-grade travelling backpack, a few rolls of wire and blank headband cloth.

Another quick stop in a supermarket, Jiraya was stocked up with baby formula and diapers which he sealed with an odd look on his face, never thinking he'd be one to purchase such goods for anything other than donation.

Shortly after that, the last Sannin on active duty left Konoha cradling a little Namikaze Naruto protectively in his arms, not looking back once, angered at the actions of the combined council. Once the gares of Konoha were out of sight, Jiraiya made use of the cloth, ninja wire, and blanket to make a comfortable little cove for little Naruto in the newly acquired travelling backpack. Naruto was wrapped in a blanket and Jiraiya padded the inside of the backpack so that only his little head peeked out of the pack. With a few straightened strands of ninja wire, a square piece of cloth and considerate skill and experience regarding camping in the wild, Jiraiya even managed to create a little sun-guard for Naruto so the infant wouldn't be affected by the bright sun.

After a few hours of walking, they managed to reach the same village Jiraiya had been when the Kyubi had started its attack on Konoha. On the outskirts of town he flashed through a familiar set of seals. A loud pop later, a plume of smoke faded into the wind and revealed a dozen small toads, all looking indistinguishable from the one next to it.

"Find Tsunade. Last I heard she's not too far from here. She's still travelling with Shizune so they're using the same methods of covering their tracks as always. Check the usual places and ask the usual people. Find her at all costs. If you can't find anything, report back in 12 hours."

And so began a tale, the tale of Namikaze Naruto, the son of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, raised by the Toad Sage, Jiraiya of the Sannin and the help of many others.


	2. 2: Growing up Sannin style

**Chapter 2: Growing up Sannin style**

Jiraiya would be the first to admit that he didn't know how to raise an infant. Sure, he knew a few things he had picked up in his travels and while shamelessly peeping on women who happened to have a baby. Jiraiya knew how to hold a baby, how to calm one, how to entertain one, but not how to change a diaper or how to distinguish a cry for food from a cry for warmth.

So Jiraiya and little Naruto set out to find the ever elusive Senju Tsunade, the famed Sannin medic known among men for her unrealistically large chest as well as her abyssal luck in any sort of gamble. Jiraiya thanked the gods for his luck as his toads located Tsunade with her companions Shizune and TonTon only a day's travel away. Convincing Tsunade to help him raise Naruto hadn't even been all that hard. A half dozen bottles of sake, a check to pay half her debts, a few safely hidden pieces of blackmail and shoving the sleeping little baby into her bust and Tsunade crumbled and caved into Jiraiya's desperate plea. This would also enable Jiraiya to maintain and broaden his spy network whilst raising Naruto alongside the two medics.

Given all the time they spent on the road or in the outdoors, once Naruto was capable of walking and speaking, the two Sannin did what they considered themselves to be best in – teaching. They taught Naruto in the shinobi arts and the boy absorbed things quicker than they could come up with. He had always been a bit on the energetic side with an insane metabolism, probably both fueled by the Kyubi and the resulting oversized chakra pool available to the child. Naruto naturally excelled at Taijutsu. He loved applying raw power and shattering offending objects with his bare hands. After Jiraiya and Tsunade battled over which Taijutsu he'd learn first, Naruto decided to take the best of both sides and just make his own. Jiraiya was a Ninjutsu specialist, but was definitely no slouch in close quarter combat either, having adapted the Toad style of Taijutsu to match his human needs. It consisted of keeping the opponent at arm's length, dodging and capitalizing on the opponent's mistakes rather than trying to force openings, making it highly efficient but very much reliant on one's reflexes and ability to predict and opponent's movement while still dealing maximum damage per opportunity given.

Tsunade on the other hand preferred explosive brute force over finesse. Taijutsu was her second strongest field after medical Ninjutsu and was actually on par with her Genjutsu. Having studied the human body for longer than she cared to remember, she knew exactly how to trick it and fool it, how the sense worked and what kind of illusion a certain type of person was most likely to be susceptible to. Tsunade's Taijutsu relied on burst speed to get inside an opponent's defences to abuse her inhumane chakra control to deliver her famous blows. A well-aimed hit could kill an enemy instantly, especially if she got a clean shot at someone's solar plexus or rib cage. Unless the opponent was adept at defensive techniques as well as strengthening their bones with chakra, they were dead within moments of letting Tsunade get in close. In full-out combat, Tsunade used discreet Genjutsu to fool the enemy, only needing a split second of distraction to get close enough to finish them. Should she be forced to conserve chakra, her medical Ninjutsu proved to be stronger than thought as she could make an enemy's heart stop with a mere poke to the chest or server the spine with a well-placed Chakra Scalpel swipe.

Surprisingly, Shizune had developed her own fighting style as well. Since she didn't possess the same level of chakra reserves or control as her mentor, she preferred to strike quickly and unexpectedly, using concealed weapons to quickly dispose of the unsuspecting. You could never guess where Shizune might have a hidden blade, a bundle of senbon, a senbon launcher, a poison capsule, a scalpel or even a good old kunai. The little and impressionable Naruto found all these styles cool and decided to combine to make his own. Having seen Jiraiya fight, he found it amazing how Jiraiya instantly took control of a hand-to-hand fight, never getting hit and dealing punishment to every hostile dumb enough to come close to him. Tsunade's ability to create craters in the dirt with a mere stomp of her foot or strike of her fist always awed the little guy, also having seen what kind of damage it did when Tsunade hit Jiraiya in the gut when he peeped, sending him across several acres of field. Having seen movies and having heard stories from his caretakers, Naruto immediately took a liking to Shizune's way of fighting, her deceptively kind and pleasant face always deceiving enemies into having a kunai embedded in their crotch, shot straight from a chakra-activated spring loader in her sleeve.

Tsunade also grilled chakra control into Naruto. Knowing that his insanely high reserves, courtesy of the Kyubi, would be an issue in the future if he didn't learn how to control chakra properly at an early age, she and Jiraiya came up with several ways for Naruto to learn to control his excessive energy. Naruto was determined enough to quickly learn how to control his charka as well as any other shinobi, yet unfortunately his reserves would always be too big for him to become a genjutsu specialist, much to Tsunade's disappointment. When Tsunade explained this to a five year old Naruto, he had just shrugged and said "I can't be the best at everything."

**- Break -**

The rate at which the Jinchuriki learned new things skyrocketed when Jiraiya taught him Kage Bushin, more out of frustration than anything else, as Naruto hadn't managed a basic Bushin after weeks of trying – his reserves were simply too high. To him it was like trying reach into a one ton large stack of hay and finding a needle. Naturally he successfully created over a dozen Kage Bushin on the first try, breaking Jiraiya out of his frustration. Jiraiya quickly realized the potential of this and so from there on, Naruto always had dozens upon dozens of clones training alongside him, whether it was Ninjutsu or Taijutsu. He created them in waves of 5 in order to properly absorb all the new information. He increased the amount of clones he dispelled at a time as he got older as he handled the mental strain better.

As they travelled, Jiraiya and Tsunade told Naruto many stories. They never kept his identify from him, telling him all they could about his parents and their achievements and all the things they did. Jiraiya had plenty of photos to show of Minato and Kushina to show Naruto and even more funny stories to tell of how he looked so much like his father but acted a lot more like his mother.

Over the years, Tsunade assumed the role of a loving aunt and the closest thing Naruto would ever have to a mother. Shizune was his "aunt's" daughter and therefore like a sister to him, a really cool older sister who'd always play games with him and train with him. Jiraiya was the perverted uncle who assumed the father figure role here, but Naruto preferred to call him a perverted old grandpa, just to peeve the aging Sannin.

They also never bothered to hide the Kyubi from him. Naruto had been shocked and extremely upset at first, but after some comforting and reassuring words from Tsunade and Jiraiya as well as an explanation why his father had sealed with demon inside of him, Naruto had been capable of accepting it and tried to make the most of it, vowing to protect them all from the demon by keeping it safely inside his seal-covered tummy.

Naruto was a very talented shinobi, given his tutelage. What was even more apparent was that he was highly ambitious too, just like his father had been. Naruto had two goals: to surpass his father and Ero-oji and then become Hokage and protect Konoha just like his parents had before him. This of course caused discomfort in Tsunade who wanted to do anything but return to Konoha. She would be happy living like this for the rest of her life, travelling from town to town, country to country, with the few precious people left in her life. Given how attached she was to her charge and how comfortable it actually was to travel with a rich bastard like Jiraiya she knew she'd probably eventually have to return to her home village for good, even if it was just for the sake of Naruto and helping him grow and achieve his dreams, the same ones her loved ones once had before they had met their untimely fates.

Speaking of Konoha, every time the four ninja found themselves travelling through the Land of Fire they made a point of staying in the Hidden Village for a few days, even if was just for the sake of letting Naruto experience what it was like to be in the place he was born. Naruto immediately took a liking to it, especially the Hokage Monument. Seeing his father's determined face look over the entire village only fuelled his fire to train and get stronger.

Naruto quickly took a liking to the Sandaime Hokage, calling him his Old Man or grandpa, much to the Hokage's amusement. Naruto also met a few kids his age when he was in Konoha but never stuck around for long enough to get to know them on any sort of personal level.

**- Break -**

How Naruto acquired his personal summoning contract would never make sense to his caretakers. He had been a mere five years old. The worst case scenario happened: Jiraiya was out getting in contact with one of his agents following up a lead about a new Hidden Village trying to recruit forces. Tsunade went to make some cash by curing some diseases but got distracted quickly by a casino offering two-for-one happy-hour sake, naturally forcing Shizune to follow her and attempt to make her leave before she caused trouble. Somehow, somewhere, the two females lost Naruto in the masses of people up and about doing their business. The village they were in was somewhere several weeks away of Konoha, where exactly Naruto didn't know, nor did he particularly care. All he knew was he was bored out of his mind and wanted to explore a bit on his own. Since he lost sight of Tsunade and Shizune anyway, Naruto wandered around along with an equally bored TonTon by his feet.

Since he wasn't hungry, not that he had any money on him, Naruto quickly wandered out of town into the dense forest surrounding the town they were staying at for a few days. He contemplated returning to the town after a good two hours of aimless wandering around he heard a little whimper from somewhere close by. TonTon oinked in warning but Naruto ignored it and quickly ran towards the high pitched sounds.

Coming into a small clearing he saw the source of the sounds: a small brown bear cub lay curled up beneath a tree, whimpering. Having learned all about wild animals Naruto approached the cub carefully, his hands with his palms out to show he wasn't holding anything threatening. He quickly identified the problem: the cub was nursing one of its fore paws which was limp and seemed broken somewhere. Whispering soothing words, Naruto gently petted the bear's little head – the animal was barely TonTon's size and seemed too frightened and pained to do anything hostile.

"TonTon, get me some straight sticks!" Naruto requested and the pig obediently trotted off, capable of sensing intent and understanding human speech. Having seen his aunt Tsunade do this dozens of times when she treated people for money, Naruto rummaged through his pouch to find a roll of bandages, quickly cutting them to size. The bear looked at Naruto in wonder, temporarily distracted from the throbbing pain in its paw. Not sensing any nervousness or maliciousness from the blonde boy, the cub allowed him to gently take its paw and treat it to the best of his ability.

A thunderous growl made Naruto freeze in place. Turning around, he spotted a gigantic black bear. What puzzled Naruto though was the fact that the bear was standing on two legs with ease.

After a tense moment of silence the last thing Naruto would have thought to happen, happened.

The bear spoke.

"A human child?" The bear asked in a surprisingly smooth and deep voice.

**- Break -**

The next time the two medics and Jiraiya saw Naruto was when he was carried back into the town riding a top a black bear easily the size of an average adult human male. If that wasn't strange enough, then the fact that Naruto was talking and asking questions at about a hundred words per second and the bear calmly replying would have certainly shell shocked anyone.

The bear, or Kuma-san as Naruto called him, carried him all the way until they found Tsunade and Jiraiya, who had been searching for him frantically in the outskirts of the town. Once they found them, the Sannin were immediately on guard, after all, seeing Naruto ride on a _bear_ of all things would be a legitimate cause of worry. They were appeased when the bear introduced himself as a summoned being. The fact that he and Naruto met had been mere coincidence, or dumb luck, but the two bears weren't even supposed to be in that part of the woods but had been forced linger there as the cub had tried to climb a tree and had fallen when out of sight of his elders. It was also mere coincidence, or again, dumb luck that the bear Naruto encountered was one capable of accessing the Summoning Contract for the Bear Tribes. Taking a liking to the kid and being thankful for attempt to heal the cub, the bear had disappeared for a little while, allegedly to "confer with the Boss and Elders," and had returned with the contract which Naruto readily signed, wanting to surpass his father and Jiraiya by his own methods.

What hadn't been mentioned by the bear was the fact that he sensed a great strength in Naruto and that such a meeting had been foretold by the Great Old Polar Bear, the oldest and most renowned seer amongst the bear tribes.

**- Break -**

Tsunade offered to heal the cub in thanks for bringing Naruto back and not mauling him. After showing Jiraiya the contract scroll, which only had one previous summoner whose signature was dated well over a hundred years back, the Sannin agreed to teach Naruto the Kuchiyose no Jutsu to allow him to make use of his contract. This had been acceptable to the bear in question, who told Naruto to summon the Boss once he was strong enough.

Naruto did not only learn Taijutsu or Ninjutsu from the Sannin. He was taught many things that went beyond the traditional combative arts. From Jiraiya he learned how to make friends and influence people, how to manipulate anyone in any given situation and how to blend into the background when needed. Naruto became very adept very quickly at blending in with crowds, groups and the general masses wherever they went as he came to often dislike the crowds that amassed around Tsunade and Shizune when they performed some sort of miracle healing or when the "Great Jiraiya" released a new book. Learning to move through a crowd came easy to him given that he was naturally a bit shorter than kids his age, despite a somewhat healthy diet which would be ruined by binge-eating when Jiraiya took him to the ramen stands after Naruto mastered a new technique or did something worth celebrating.

It became apparent very quickly that Jiraiya was as good as people claimed. Even though he liked to goof off in his free time, he really did know his stuff. Espionage and infiltration were specialities of his and he proved to Naruto that he could enter any Hidden Village without anyone knowing. Jiraiya took great pride in Naruto taking so well to his particular arts, feeling very accomplished as even he found it harder and harder to track and find the blonde boy when he didn't want to be found. From both Sannin, the son of Minato also picked up how to travel efficiently and arrive at destinations the quickest whilst hiding one's tracks and traces.

From Tsunade, Naruto learned basic medical skills and more about human anatomy than he wanted to, really. Tsunade may have had the worst luck of all kunoichi alive, but she too knew many things. After decades of gambling to varying degrees of success as well as being intimately familiar with the human body, Tsunade could very easily read people and taught those skills to Naruto too, which went hand-in-hand with the things he learned from Jiraiya. By the way someone held themselves they could learn many things about a person's personality. By the way one walked, Naruto learned to assess a target's physical condition, by posture he could eventually recognize hidden weaponry as well as familiarity with combat. A problem many shinobi had with trying to masquerade as a civilian was that they walked and held themselves completely differently than a civilian. The smallest of noises could prompt them to snap their eyes to an object or twitch involuntarily with their extremities, no matter how small.

Shizune taught Naruto some very mundane things that he was very thankful for, though, seeing their usefulness after having lived on the road for the better part of his life. Things like how to purify water, how to cook properly, how to distinguish useful herbs from poisonous ones, how to make a meal when no ingredients were available. She also taught him some things she didn't necessarily tell the Sannin about. Poisons were her forte and she had a few tips and tricks to pass on her brother figure. Naruto was immediately interested in how to identify and make his own poisons or drugs – the possibilities of pranking Jiraiya with special laxatives or pills to induce drowsiness, hell, even some to create a temporary immunity to alcohol would be too much fun to pass up.

Shizune taught him a few other things too when they were alone which was normally when Jiraiya was either trying to get Tsunade drunk enough to sleep with her. How to speak to girls, how to treat a girl, how girls thought, how to give them a relaxing massage for either the shoulders and neck, the full back, or even feet.

Naruto didn't quite understand the value of those things but he knew better than to question his Shizune-neesan when she had a particular look in her eyes when teaching him something.

The paths the group travelled were normally set by Jiraiya. He was the only shinobi on active duty amongst them really and was sent from one side of the continent to the other by the Hokage or by necessity, sometimes to investigate rumours, other times to have dinner with politicians or royalty, a few diplomatic missions to aid a fellow Konoha diplomat in negotiations, rarely even to dispose of a threat.

Jiraiya took Naruto where he could, keeping his parentage secret and just introducing the blonde as his apprentice. This way Naruto learned how to act around powerful people, what mannerisms were acceptable and how Jiraiya manipulated them to his will and to benefit Konoha. In the first ten years of his life at Jiraiya's and Tsunade's side, he had witnessed them create and secure at least a dozen new trade routes between high-profile places and Konoha, as well as many exclusive contracts to secure the highest ranked missions for the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Life on the road was not without dangers, though. Several times they had been ambushed by rouges wanting to claim the bounty on either of the Sannin's heads, more often than not they had stumbled into bandits and robbers along the way due to Tsunade's terrible luck, the wildest and most dangerous animals always happened to live nearby where they decided to set up camp. Death was common and after freezing up the first time he had seen Jiraiya's Rasengan drill into a man who had been mere inches from running a blade through a four year old Naruto's head, he had vowed to become strong and help protect everyone who was currently protecting him.

Jiraiya had taken the opportunity to drill a very important lesson into Naruto: "Kill or be killed." He illustrated to him that the life of a ninja was often very brutal and dangerous and not as glamorous as made out to be in stories. Jiraiya told him that in order to protect the ones he loved he often needed to remove those that tried to hurt them or the village, for the greater good. "A strong enemy would never hesitate to kill you kid, remember that. They will not show mercy, so don't be merciful to the ones that wouldn't do the same to you. When you fight, always fight with the intent to kill, otherwise you won't be strong enough to protect those precious to you."

**- Break -**

When Naruto was 8, Jiraiya started teaching him advanced elemental manipulation after testing Naruto and finding out he was a Wind type. Naruto already knew about a dozen jutsu of all types, quickly realizing that the more versatile one's arsenal of weapons was, the less likely one would be matched up against an opponent who could directly counter all techniques. Being a Wind type was good, Jiraiya explained, as it would allow him to fight at even long ranges while still being a deadly chakra type for any sort of close to mid-range combat.

It was also around this age when Naruto was craving a primary weapon. His proficiency with kunai, shuriken and senbon was very high but they got quite boring. Until he mastered his father's Hiraishin no Jutsu he wouldn't like kunai as a primary weapon.

After letting his desire for a weapon of his own be known to Jiraiya, the Toad Sage told him to be patient as they were on their way to the Land of Iron, the famed Tetsu no Kuni. The landscape was covered in ice and snow, which Naruto didn't mind as walking on snow without sinking in was a great charka control exercise as it was far harder than walking on water or a tree since the consistency of snow was relative to the weather. Gluing oneself to ice with chakra was a challenge too and Naruto liked challenges. Tsunade and Shizune had opted to not travel with them and stay at the border and wait for them to return, especially since Tsunade had found a small town with a few casinos.

Jiraiya took Naruto to a small hut at the foot of a mountain about a day's walk from the main military base of the land. Jiraiya said an old friend of his lived there and that he happened to be a bit of a weapons expert since he was a weapons smith and that he would be able to find an ideal weapon for Naruto and perhaps even craft it. Jiraiya introduced Naruto to the smith called Katsugi Cho, who sort of reminded Naruto of a bear. He was easily a head taller than Jiraiya who was already above average height and had a very muscular and stocky frame. The man was probably a bit older than Jiraiya but seemed very energetic. He warmly welcomed Jiraiya and agreed to have Naruto in his hut for two days while Jiraiya went to speak to Mifune, the General, on behalf of Konoha.

The first few hours were spent just talking and getting to know each other. Naruto told the man about his life so far and got some amazing stories in return, learning much about the land they were located in.

Naruto was also asked several questions and together they went through the process of elimination, well, at least Katsugi Cho did. After a while he took Naruto through a door into a big cave, presumably into the mountain the hut sat at. The instructions were simple enough: attack Cho with Taijutsu only and give it the best he had, which Naruto happily did. Much to his surprise, Naruto couldn't land a single clean hit as the tall man was deceptively agile and flexible and read Naruto's every move. He did compliment Naruto on his very creative and powerful Taijutsu, saying that in a few years' time he'd be able to match his mentors with ease.

The spar was followed by another question round, this time more towards Naruto's personal preferences. Did he want a weapon he could incorporate into his jutsu? Yes. Did he want a weapon he could channel chakra through, perhaps even wind natured chakra? Yes. Did he want it to be light-weight? Yes. And so on.

Cho explained to Naruto that he would craft for him a specialized and unique weapon, one that he could easily incorporate into his Taijutsu style as well as Ninjutsu arsenal. Naruto observed the process with glee and anticipation and observed that Cho was also a master of a certain branch of Fuinjutsu: seals and their applications.

By the time Jiraiya returned, Naruto's weapon was completed: a pair of midnight black Brawler's Gloves. The inside of the gloves were made of a silk created by a very rare breed of tiny spiders, wanted for its incredible durability and neigh impenetrable quality if woven correctly. What made it even more sought after by shinobi was the fact that it was a perfect chakra conductor. The silk was woven in with the metal plates of the gloves which were made from the hardest material Cho used – a unique combination of metals capable of conducting charka and whose recipe he had inherited. The metal was black and Naruto loved it at first sight. What fascinated Naruto was that the underside of each metal plate had complex seals engraved into it, giving it properties and features which were very much sought after by shinobi and were one of the reasons why seal experts and masters tended to be very wealthy. One of the most prominent features was that the glove would conduct chakra without any resistance, meaning there would be no scrap of chakra wasted when used. Seeing that Naruto still had a lot of growing to do, he also soaked seals into the silk to allow it to grow with its user. The glove was more of a gauntlet really, covering half of Naruto's forearm. After illustrating to the boy all the things the gloves could do and how creative he could get with them, as well as being able to block blades as if they were a buckler, Naruto was in love.

**- Break -**

During his travels, Naruto also made quite a few friends along the way, through the most unconventional methods.

A really bad case of "wrong place at the wrong time" lead to him and Jiraiya liberating the Land of Snow alongside Kazahana Koyuki, also known as the famous actress Fujikaze Yukie. After breaking the girl out of her emotional shell she became very attached to the young blonde who was only two or three younger than her, causing her to joke that he was hers from now on. Naruto took it all in stride and remembered what Shizune had taught him about women and how to treat them, so Naruto did his best to charm the young lady. He promised he'd write her whenever he was somewhere she could reply to and she swore to definitely make the effort to see him again once she got her country under control. She told him her entire country was indebted to him and they'd never forget what he and Jiraiya did on that day; telling the two of them they'd be welcome to return anytime they liked.

Jiraiya found this hilarious. Naruto had just become best friends with a girl who had her own country and she seemed totally smitten with him, pecking him on his lips as a farewell gift before handing him a singed photo of the two of them. Naruto looked a bit banged up but had his arm around Yukie's shoulders, grinning broadly as they both gave the photographer a V for Victory sign.

Seemingly random encounters like that shaped Naruto greatly as a person – and it seemed that he was also the only one who didn't realize that most of these friends he made were female. Jiraiya on the other hand always buried his head in his notebook when these things happened, snapping pictures and giggling perversely when Tsunade wasn't looking.

**- Break -**

As Naruto hit age 10, the group of four briefly traveled to Konoha to apply Naruto to become a Genin. The Hokage granted the request after Naruto filled the room with Kage Bushin who were all capable of creating a Rasengan, which implied they had an insane amount of chakra available and Naruto didn't even seem to bat an eyelash at expending so much energy.

Naruto was excited but also a bit miffed that they didn't stay in the village so he could be on a team. The Sandaime had laughed and told him that Jiraya and Tsunade still had much to teach him and that he should be happy as many people would live their lives in only their villages and never see the outside of it. Another point had been that shinobis from all over the world would kill for the opportunity to study under either Sannin and Naruto had been doing so already for a decade. There was always time to settle down once he was older.

Seeing that reasoning was sound and kind of bullet proof, Naruto accepted his new shiny forehead protector with grace before leaving the village once more with his caretakers. As he walked out the door he cheekily grinned at the old man, saying, "When I come back next time I'll be strong enough to take that awesome hat from you Jiji, so stay in shape for a good fight!"

'_Who knows Naruto-kun, perhaps I'll hold onto this hat a big longer so I can give it to you one day. Your mother and father would be so proud of you.'_

_**- Break -**_

After this particular instance, the group decided to travel to the Land of Spring to visit Naruto's long-time friend, the Daimyo of The Land of Spring, Kazahana Koyuki, or Yuki-chan as Naruto called her. The two Sannin, Jonin and Genin were welcomed like celebrities much to their embarrassment and Yuki leaped into Naruto's arms in joy as they arrived. She immediately invited them to stay at her estate overlooking Yukigakure, an offer the travellers graciously accepted. Jiraiya immediately fired off lecherous comments that she might as well take Naruto into her room when Yuki insisted Naruto used the room right beside hers, causing Naruto to shout loudly in indignation with a pink hue to his cheeks, much to the amusement of the adults. Yuki, on the other hand, looked at Jiraiya with a raised eyebrow before grinning and saying she "wouldn't mind" causing Naruto to promptly pass out, Shizune and Tsunade to roar in laughter while taking pictures of Yuki cuddling an unconscious Naruto, and Jiraiya writing notes faster than ever into his ever available notebook.

The entire country had prospered significantly since Naruto had caused its liberation. With the climate now pleasant enough, the country had grown self-sustaining by growing its own crops and having developed much farm land. Much of the country's prosperity came from technology and export, allowing Yukigakure to grow exponentially and receive its own missions from neighbouring lands.

They spent almost an entire year in the village, allowing Naruto and even Jiraiya to learn new techniques. Since the small Hidden Village specialized in Ice Manipulation, a combination of Wind and Water chakra, Naruto and Jiraiya took the opportunity to further their abilities on the Water technique side of things. Tsunade and Shizune didn't feel like slacking and got to work on medical research along the village's medical technicians who specialized in ninja technology. With the combined effort of the Research and Development Department, medical technologists and Tsunade and Shizune, they had a major medical breakthrough in creating chakra-fueled prosthetics to replace irreplaceable or lost limbs and allowing grievously shinobi to recover and return to active duty. With the help of Jiraiya they added seal arrays which allowed for chakra storage so that the limb would be powered by sealed chakra in times of combat or emergency, as well as making it a viable solution for civilians who had lost arms or legs by creating a siphoning seal which would use the little charka even a civilian had in their underdeveloped system to power the limb.

This medical breakthrough attracted a lot of attention with many representatives from countries as well as Hidden Villages coming to witness demonstrations. Using Yuki's connections in the entertainment industry, they easily marketed and spread the word about the new tool, resulting in a major economical influx for the country. Even a Konoha representative came, discreetly delivering a message to Jiraiya in passing. Jiraiya, Tsunade and Shizune all received percentage based shares of the profit made. When people realized the Great Jiraiya, author extraordinaire and Self-Proclaimed Super Pervert as in town, dozens of people came up to him for autographs for their favourite Icha Icha instalment as well as questions about the next installment Tsunade had to cling to her iron resolve to not gamble away all the money she made with Shizune insisting that the money be used to further fund their travels or be saved if they wished to one day purchase a house should they settle down somewhere.

Another convenience of living in Yukigakure for a time was that Jiraiya could start training Naruto in controlling the Kyubi's chakra. Which a lot of technological experimentation going on and explosions often rocking the somewhat remote labs of the Village, things like chakra explosions were fairly common and no one would ask questions if Naruto lost control over the demonic power before Jiraiya could seal the charka back into the boy. Much to Naruto's frustration, progress was extremely slow on that front as he had to attune his body to the different type of charka which was far more potent than his own but came with its drawbacks. Jiraiya told him he should stop worrying since he was progressing faster than anyone else could, especially since his chakra coils and pathways were far more resistant than an average shinobi's as they had been exposed to massive amounts of chakra ever since he could meld it.

**A/N: None of this is beta'd. Next chapter picks up the pace. No, Naruto won't be super overpowered. Feel free to let me know if you have any comments. Peace.**


	3. 3: Return to Konoha

**Chapter 3: The Return to Konoha**

**Note: Naruto is rather vulgar in later parts of this chapter. This is intended. This is what he is trained to do in a fight. If you take offense of words such as faggot, cunt, asshole, bitch, etc, you may want to consider reading a K-rated story. Naruto will only be like that in certain situations.**

It would be three years later, sometime after Naruto's 13th birthday, when the travelling quartet would return to the village with one serious goal in mind: to prevent Orochimaru from taking over Konoha.

During their travels after having left Yukigakure, around the time they travelled near Takigakure, the Village Hidden by a Waterfall, Jiraiya met up with an informant and then briefly returned only to disappear for almost two whole months. He instructed Tsunade to keep Naruto busy and stay in a hotel near Takigakure until he returned.

Training Naruto to exhaustion almost each day, Tsunade found she had more and more trouble fighting him in an all-out fight. Having been exposed to her techniques for years, Naruto knew exactly how to break a Genjutsu and how to not get distracted by one. Naruto far outclassed her in the Ninjutsu department and knew very well how to keep his distance from her, probably a side effect from having been on the receiving end of her fist plenty of times for doing something stupid.

When Jiraiya returned, he looked quite grim. He just walked in after two months during breakfast at a small stand near the hotel, sat down at the table and said, "We have a mission."

He took the surprised looks as his cue to continue, "Orochimaru is the Shodaime Otokage and plans on infiltrating Konoha during the upcoming Chunin exams next month. He's planning and invasion. Either to take over Konoha or to level it to the ground. My sources aren't entirely positive but we have good reason to believe that he is allied with another Village participating in the exams, and there is only one Kage I know that's dumb enough to try something like this."

Tsunade sighed and intertwined her fingers, which she used to prop up her chin. "Kiri's still undergoing transformation after the Civil War, Iwa doesn't have the balls or resources yet after what Minato did, Kumo has no real reason to anymore as far as I know, and none of the smaller Villages have the manpower to overpower Konoha, even if they all snuck in. Suna then?"

"I believe so. The Kazekage is a cold-hearted bastard who sealed the Ichibi into his youngest son by sacrificing the mother. From what I've heard, the sole purpose of this was to create a weapon for Sunagakure but backfired since the seal is weak and the boy is mentally instable. Even though Suna and Konoha are allies, the Kazekage's always seemed envious of our prosperity and rumours are that their Daimyo has reduced their funding for whatever reason." The Toad Sage concluded. His eyes focused on Naruto, whose eyes had narrowed at the mentioning of another Jinchuriki. He had no delusions about the life of someone like him growing up in a village, most likely shunned and hated for what they were forced to hold.

"So, what do we do?" The blonde Genin asked, looking quite determined.

"We return to Konoha as fast as possible. I don't want to spend more than a week getting there. We need to inform Sensei of the plan and start preparing counter measures. If Orochimaru is involved we need to assume the worst, anything from himself trying to assassinate the Hokage to Manda and his spawn being summoned to prey on anything that moves."

The three nodded in acknowledgement. "Right. Pack up, we leave now. I'll give you more intel as we travel."

**- Break -**

"Naruto," Jiraiya started as the three leapt from tree branch to the next, "your mission will be to infiltrate the exam as a participant. We still need to iron out details, but we'll probably pretend you're a random Genin from Konoha. Perhaps even a Genin team from Yukigakure. I sent a Kage Bushin to talk to Kazahane-chan and she's okay with it, even gave me a hitai-ate just in case."

Naruto nodded at the information. "It might be easier if I pretend to be from Yukigakure. It would be odd if none of the other Konoha Genin knew me or had at least seen me at some point around the Village. From what I remember, you must have a three-man cell to enter the exam as well as pass a portion of it. Kage Bushin I assume?"

Allowing himself to smile slightly, Jiraiya gave a proud grin. Even though the knucklehead could be hard-headed, hot-tempered and stubborn as hell, when it came down to business he was completely serious. Perhaps a habit he'd picked up from none other than Jiraiya himself. He'd immediately come with a viable plan. "Yes, very good. With your ability to liberally use Kage Bushin you won't have any trouble posing as a three unit cell. Henge them and you have able-bodied teammates. Your primary mission during the first two stages will be to hinder any of Orochimaru's movements, pinpoint any spies and determine any significant threats. By the time we get to Konoha I want you to have though to of at least 9 different personas including detailed physical description, plausible back stories and available skills – we cannot have your clones use the exact same skills as you to avoid suspicion. You're gonna have to allocate some jutsu to your clones that you'll refrain from using."

As Naruto pondered his assignment, Jiraiya turned to his other two companions. "Tsunade, your primary assignment is to subtly prepare the hospital for emergency treatment on a large scale. You will have the Hokage's permission to do as you please, so allocate rooms and staff to your liking. We need to minimize losses to not become an easy target once the invasion is repelled." Tsunade nodded grimly at her teammate's words. Even though she'd hate going back to Konoha, she had a few bones to pick with her former teammate and would be damned to not be there should her sensei be seriously injured.

"Shizune. Your primary objective will be logistics. I know you're a capable Jonin-level shinobi and you can hold your own in a fight, but most of all, you're a clever strategist and quick thinker. Without you Tsunade would've been dead years ago. You'll work under Tsunade with the lead strategist, Shikaku Nara. Your job will be to cover the placement of medical nins throughout Konoha as well as setting up defences for the medical facilities. Understood?"

"Hai, Jiraiya-sama." She resolutely agreed.

"Good. Then we're all set."

**- Break -**

Jiraiya had handed Naruto and Shizune the keys to one of his properties in Konoha and told them to pick out their rooms and do some grocery shopping while he and Tsunade went to the Hokage Tower to inform their sensei of the intel they had acquired. The house was right next to a moderately sized apartment complex. Naruto noted it was only a few minutes away from a large bookstore and dango stand. He had a fair idea why Jiraiya would have a place located there: cheap food and booze and a short way to his book-signings.

The house had three bedrooms. Having travelled together with the three, Naruto had no qualms about sharing a room with any of them but chose to bunk with Shizune this time around, mainly because he wouldn't need to worry about her crashing into the room at four in the morning, pissed beyond belief and waking him up in the process of destroying half the room on the way to the bed, which both Tsunade and Jiraiya were prone to accomplishing.

"Oi Nee-chan, do you even know where we can get groceries around here?" Naruto enquired as he filled his half of the closet with his clothes and gear that he normally kept sealed in scrolls.

Shizune seemed to ponder for a moment before nodding. "I think we'll be fine Otouto. How hard can it be for two ninja of our calibre to find a grocery store?" The two shared a chuckle before finishing with their preparation of the room before leaving the house.

Hatake Kakashi was bored. He sat on the roof of his apartment building, lazily flicking through the pages of his latest Icha Icha novel – Icha Icha Violence which was the second installation in the series and had a re-readability value of infinity. A quick glance at the sky with his uncovered eye told him he'd let his team, Team 7, wait for him for about 2 hours now. The Jonin contemplated showing up within the next few minutes but shrugged, preferring to read his smut for another hour. If the three Genins couldn't keep themselves entertained or god forbid, actual train without him holding their hands, then they didn't deserve to be Genin in the first place.

As he giggled perversely at one of his favourite scenes involving a chocolate bar, a passed-out princess and well-endowed hermit, he let his senses run a routine scan on his surroundings. He could make out two chakra signatures walking beneath him on the road, one feeling vaguely familiar, the other one completely foreign. With his curiosity spiked he glanced down from his position on the edge of his apartment complex's roof and easily spotted the two figures. One was a woman looking close to his age wearing a simple black Yakuta, who was, oddly enough, carrying a small pig.

Next to her walked a younger boy, probably the same age as his Genin team. He wore a loosely fitting white T-Shirt with a spiral on the front, black cargo pants and sandals. The only distinguishing feature was his bright blonde hair, but aside from that, he looked perfectly average. What Kakashi immediately noticed was that they could perfectly pass as civilians not just from looks but from behaviour as well. If they had bothered to supress their chakra, Kakashi doubted he would have even noticed them.

The Jonin quickly flared his chakra, just to see what would happen. Unsurprisingly, the two unknown shinobi glanced right at him over their shoulders. Seeing her face for the first time, Kakashi almost fell over. There was no doubt about it, the woman down there was none other than Shizune.

Leaping down from his spot quickly he landed in front of them, smiling with his eye and waving casually with his free hand. "Yo Shizune, long time no see!"

Shizune looked surprised. "Kakashi?" She exclaimed, smiling.

"You know this guy, Nee-chan?" Naruto asked. Of course he knew who he was facing here; Hatake Kakashi was as famous as he was infamous in different parts of the continent. What surprised him was that Shizune seemed to know him on some level.

"Yes, of course! This is Hatake Kakashi, he and I were in the same graduating class!" Shizune explained, smiling the whole time. "He used to get a lot of guys jealous over him for being so young yet so strong, especially when the girls all fawned over him." The medic elaborated, causing Kakashi to look sheepish.

"It's been a long time, Shizune. I haven't seen you since…" Kakashi stopped abruptly, all three of them knowing what he was about to say, causing a short and uncomfortable silence. _"Ever since your uncle died and you left with Tsunade-sama." _Were the unspoken words.

Smiling with his good eye again, he turned to Naruto. "Mind introducing us, Shizune-san?" He lazily requested, much to Naruto's amusement.

"Kakashi, this is Naruto. He's, uh, been travelling with us. Jiraiya-sama has been teaching him. Naruto this is Hatake-" Shizune started, only to be interrupted.

"Hatake Kakashi, I know _who _he is nee-chan, I'm just surprised you know him personally. Hatake Kakashi, also known as _Sharingan No Kakashi_, the Copy Ninja who has copied over a thousand techniques. Known for his exploits starting during the Third Shinobi War, taught by the Yondaime. Also known for his personal assassination technique, the Raikiri. Classified high A-Rank to S-Rank depending on which Hidden Village or country you ask, bounty ranging from 35 million to 60 million ryo. Specializes in combat and assassination, former ANBU Captain, one of the youngest shinobi of Konoha to be promoted to both Chunin and Jonin, and allegedly the only non-Uchiha to ever use their Dojutsu to its fullest extent. Pleasure to meet you, Hatake-san."

Kakashi looked genuinely surprised that the blonde kid knew so much about him, but when he thought about it, all that information was public knowledge if you had access to any Bingo Book. He had the decency to chuckle in embarrassment. "The pleasure's all mine Naruto-san. I guess it does sound pretty impressive when you list all those facts about me."

His attempt at being humble caused both Naruto and Shizune to laugh, until Naruto spotted the book in his hand. "Oh, you're reading Icha Icha: Violence? Have you finished it yet?"

Surprised that a mere kid would know of the series, Kakashi nodded seriously. "Yes, I've read both Volume One and Two dozens of times."

"Oh man, you're gonna love Ero-sensei's next one then. If you think the scene with the royal highness, oppressive tyrant and young liberator was good, then you're going to have to take a few days off to recuperate from the sheer dirtiness of the next one!" Naruto proudly proclaimed, causing Kakashi's eyes to widen in unadulterated glee and Shizune to facepalm.

Before the two could start discussing more inappropriate scenes, she cut in, "You wouldn't happen to know where we can get some groceries, Kakashi-san? We'll be staying here for a while and are going to need to get some food to cook for Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama."

"Oh, sure. Follow me." Kakashi said, leading the two down the main road while making small talk with Shizune, sharing funny stories they experienced in their lives apart. Kakashi had visited many of the places Shizune and Naruto mentioned so he could relate. Kakashi referred to some embarrassing moments of other members of their graduating class, causing Shizune to giggle in delight and Naruto to ask lots of questions about the people they were talking about. As they got to the grocery store, Kakashi bid them farewell, saying he had his boring Genin team to attend to. He did promise to come over sometime soon to properly catch up with Shizune and show Naruto the best ramen stand in town.

**- Break -**

Dinner at Jiraiya's place that night was lively. Jiraiya and Tsunade told them of the Hokage's grim acceptance of the information they brought and his readiness to let them lead the preparations. They would meet with Shikaku the next day at his clan's home. Shizune recounted their encounter with Kakashi, causing Jiraiya to laugh loudly at the exchange between the silver haired Jonin and a certain blonde Genin in regard to a certain novel, causing Tsunde to hang her head in defeat.

"Dear lord where I have gone wrong in raising you Naruto-chan?" Tsunade complained.

"You raised me just fine oba-san! I'm not a pervert like Ero-oji over here!" Came the immediate retort.

"Excuse me? Pervert? Are you asking for a beating, kiddo? I'M JIRAIYA, THE LEGENDARY SUPER PERVERT!" Jiraiya proclaimed, causing more laughter, and exasperation on Tsunade's side.

After dinner, Jiraiya handed Naruto a stack of files. At his questioning look, he explained, "Those are the files on Genin in your age group that will be participating in the Chunin exam. These have been updated last week, so the mission record is fairly recent, as are the skill evaluations by their Jonin senseis. Read them carefully, it'd be good for you to know what you might be up against or what you might have to work with should the situation arise."

Naruto nodded. "Ne, you've read them already, haven't you?" Jiraiya nodded at his question. "Just by the data, where do you think I rank amongst them, Ero-oji?"

"Did Tsunade hit you too hard last night or something, kid?" Jiraiya deadpanned. "You've been raised and trained by us three for 13 years now, and we're about as strong as they come. I'd be disappointed if you couldn't hold your own and beat most of the Jonin in this town. Maybe not quite someone of Kakashi's level in a life-or-death fight, but anyone else you should be able to handle. As for the Genin, some of them are so pathetically weak, it's a joke. The Haruno girl knows only academy level techniques according to her sensei who happens to be Kakashi. The last Uchiha seems above average, knows a few Katon jutsu and has awakened the Sharingan a few weeks ago. The Yamanaka girl knows a single technique of her clan's arsenal, which is pathetic. I remember when her father was her age, he'd mastered about a third of them already. They are truly dangerous if you don't know how to combat them, but this particular Yamanaka should be sent back to the academy. The Akimichi is lazy and only knows the very basics of his clan techniues. Be careful about the Nara though, he takes right after his father."

Naruto nodded, having been taught about all of the high-ranking shinobi of Konoha by Jiraiya himself. Shikaku Nara was also well known for his incredible mind, and if his son was anything like him, he'd be a force to be reckoned with.

"The Aburame might be a dark horse, he also takes after his father but even more after his mother. The Inuzuka has absolutely no mid or long-range fighting capability but is said to be decent in combination techniques involving his partner. There are two Hyugas too. They are polar opposites from what I've read, but like all Hyugas they are limited to their clan techniques, especially the boy who seems to be quite the arrogant one. There's a girl that specializes in weapons, she looks stronger than any other kunoichi of her age. There's a kid who can only utilize Taijutsu due to a deficiency in his chakra system, but he's been trained by Maito Gai since his third year in the academy, so he can probably keep up with you in terms of strength and speed. A fight against him would come down to pure technique. And lastly, there's a kid called Sai. I don't like him at all, there is far too little information about him for the fact that he went through the academy and is a Genin. He reeks of ROOT to me, got Danzo all over that."

Naruto nodded and made a clone to read through the files in his room. "Do we have any info on the foreign teams?"

"Nope, not really. What we do know is that the Kazekage is sending a team that has all three of his children on it, including the Jinchuriki."

**- Break -**

It was the day before the start of the exams when Naruto was roaming the street, playing 'Ninja' with the Hokage's grandson and his friends, whom he met in his first week of staying in Konoha. As Naruto was giving the Hokage an overview of his recent doings outside Konoha, the kid had leapt through the office door straight at the old man, brandishing a kunai. Reacting on pure instinct, Naruto had dodged the boy, stood up from his chair, and punched the kid right in the jaw, sending him crashing into the nearby wall where he promptly passed out. That had happened in less than two seconds, causing the Hokage to groan out loud at his grandson's most recent attempt to take the title of Hokage.

Konohamaru had quickly recognized Naruto as his rival and they had become friends too with Konohamaru demanding him to teach him "awesome moves."

As they played, Konohamaru ran to find a good hiding spot to ambush Naruto from before running straight into a black figure, sending the boy sprawling all over the sidewalk. Before he knew it, he was hoisted into the air by the collar of his shirt, causing him immediately to struggle against his assailant and causing his friends to freeze up at the sight.

"Little brats like you should watch where they're going or they might regret it." The voice said, belonging to a figure dressed in all black and paint applied in straight lines on his face. "Maybe I should rough you up a little so you don't forget your lesson, hmm?"

Behind him stood a girl with dirty blonde hair, knotted into four short tails. "Let the kid go Kankuro, we don't want to be causing a scene."

"Tsk, he started it. He should learn to take responsibility for his actions." The boy now known as Kankuro retorted before turning his attention to his prey.

Naruto, who had witnessed the whole exchange from the shadows, sighed. He couldn't risk Konohamaru getting hurt, especially since the kid was his responsibility while they were out playing. Briefly considering putting a mask or disguise on, Naruto shrugged, deciding to play it by ear. He frowned as Kankuro looked like he was about to do something and concentrated quickly.

Kankuro froze as the unmistakable sensation of cold steel pressing against jugular vein registered with his body. His eyes followed the kunai pressed against his throat, to the arm which held it. Next to him, stood a boy no older than thirteen or fourteen with bright blonde hair. His posture was relaxed and fairly casual, well, except for the kunai pressing to Kankuro's throat. The newcomer's eyes spoke volumes though – one wrong move and the last thing coming from his throat would be blood.

Temari was extremely startled by the appearance of the new guy, so much in fact that she reached behind her for her battle fan. She hadn't sensed him _at all._ Her movement turned out to be the wrong one though, as she too felt a blade against her throat. Glancing behind her she could see another blonde. _'A clone?'_

A moment of silence passed before Naruto spoke. "I highly recommend you let the kid go, _now._ He's my responsibility for the moment and given that he's the Sandaime's grandson, I don't take such a responsibility lightly. Perhaps you should find someone your own size to mess around with, hmm?" Naruto drawled, sensing another approaching presence as well as a spectator. _'The Uchiha's watching. The Jinchuriki is coming. His bloodlust is quite intense, too.'_

"Do as he says Kankuro." The girl harshly whispered. It wouldn't do to have both of them die right here for messing with the wrong kid. With reluctance, Kankuro slowly lowered Konohamaru until his feet touched the ground, where he immediately scrambled backwards to his friends Udon and Moegi.

"Good job listening to your sister." Naruto said. Once more he vanished from sight and his clone poofed out of existence before he reappeared a few meters away, standing right in front of Konohamaru with a kunai twirling around his index finger, looking completely at ease and relaxed.

"You punk." Kankuro growled before reaching for the taped bundle behind him, slamming it on the ground in front of him. Naruto merely raised an eyebrow. Given the solid thud the thing had made when put on the ground as well as Suna being famous for its puppeteers, it was quite obvious to Naruto what the thing in front of the Suna shinobi was.

'_A puppet user and that girl looks like she's proficient with a battle fan, so probably more of a long-range fighter. Good information to have.' _Naruto thought to himself.

"Think you're a big shot, eh? I'll show ya." Kankuro said, his hand itching to rip the cover off of his favourite puppet.

Naruto laughed in response. "You talk big, for a queer at least." He goaded, having been trained in this art for many years on and off by either Sannin. "Oi Suna-chan, did you voluntarily give him your make up or did he steal it from you?" Naruto asked the girl, causing her to involuntarily snicker at Kankuro's obvious rage.

Before either could retort, a wave of killing intent washed over them, causing the two Suna Genin to freeze immediately. Naruto looked completely unaffected though, for it wasn't nearly as impressive as when Jiraiya tried to peep on Tsunade or when Naruto didn't finish eating his vegetables.

"Stop being such a disgrace, Temari, Kankuro." A cold voice said. Naruto glanced up to see a red haired Genin stand atop a nearby tree's branch, carrying a large container of something on his back.

"S-sorry Gaara, they started it!" Kankuro managed to stutter out, not daring to look directly into his maniac brother's eyes.

"Silence, or I'll end you." Came the cold reply. Now fixating his gaze on Naruto, he continued, "Ignore my weak siblings. We'll leave, now."

Naruto merely shrugged. "Fine by me."

A second of silenced passed as no one moved and Gaara just seemed to intently stare at Naruto. "I am Sabaku no Gaara. What is your name?"

Seemingly taken aback by the question, Naruto shrugged and said, "I'm just Naruto. I guess I'll be seeing you in the exams then, Gaara-san?"

"Indeed." Gaara replied. "I hope you're as strong as you seem so I can prove my existence."

The blonde seemed genuinely amused by the statement before his eyes darkened and he disappeared from sight, only to reappear right behind Gaara with a kunai to the neck, moving far faster than he had to intercept Kankuro, faster than Gaara's sand could even hope to react to.

"You're just like me Gaara-san," Naruto whispered, "We'll see which one of us is the real demon, eh?" This caused Gaara's eyes to widen marginally, before his expression turned gruesome. Before he even had a chance to reply, Naruto had disappeared, leaving two genuinely intimidated Suna nin, one excited Jinchuriki and one confused Uchiha.

**- Break -**

Naruto stood in the corner of the room, flanked by his two disguised clones. They all wore forehead protectors with the symbol for Yukigakure. He had arrived just on time after a warning from Tsunade to not die otherwise she'd beat him to death, a hug from Shizune, and a fist bump from Jiraiya who told him to not hold back anything should he run into Orochimaru.

It had taken the last Namikaze a lot of willpower to not die of laughter when a sizeable chunk of the Genin inside the academy building couldn't see through a very simple genjutsu and henge on the two Chunins. With interest he witnessed Team 10 pretending to be weaker than they were before blowing their cover when Rock Lee blocked both Sasuke's and the Chunin's kicks without much effort. Following was the single most hilarious love confession he had ever witnessed, one that he'd surely tell his kids about one day, as Rock Lee loudly proclaimed to love the Haruno girl with all his heart. This quickly escalated into a fight between Lee and the Uchiha in which the Uchiha had his arse handed to him on a platter. Naruto's respect skyrocketed for Lee after actually seeing him in action, a shinobi severely limited in his arsenal by only using Taijutsu, yet he was damn good at it. Naruto had no doubt that Lee would make an excellent training partner for his physical regimen.

The Uchiha moved in slow-motion compared to the spandex-clad who rendered his famed Sharingan useless. The Haruno, Sakura was her name he recalled, seemed shell shocked that the Uchiha had been beaten so easily and their third teammate, Sai, bombarded the loser of the match with insinuations that his lack of penis size was directly proportional to his lack of performance. Naruto greatly enjoyed Sai's puns on Sasuke Uchiha's "shortcomings" and "incapability to penetrate defences" to a point where he had to shove his fist into his mouth to not be too loud.

Standing in the room filled with Genins from many Villages, Naruto did his best to seem bored and uninterested. The group of Konoha shinobi seemed to be the loudest, with two girls hanging off of the Uchiha's shoulders which only fuelled Sai's cannon of never ending insults and puns. "Limp dick, flat chest and saggy tits here should form a band," He commented to no one in particular, "they could all wear paper bags and call themselves The Defect Kunai. Just like Sasuke's penis."

This time Naruto couldn't help but snicker at his insults, especially when the blonde and pink haired girls started yelling at him. Despite his weariness of the boy, Naruto had to give it to him, he was hilarious, ROOT or not.

A silver haired Genin walked up to them and Naruto fuelled chakra into his ears to hear what he told them. Kabuto was his name and he claimed to have taken the exam seven times, as well as having insider information on all participants and their villages. This naturally spiked Naruto's interest. Sasuke requested information on Gaara and oddly enough, about "some blonde kid called Naruto."

Kabuto's intel on Gaara was about the same as Naruto's. Not much was known except that he'd never even been scratched on a mission and had even completed B-Rank missions in his first year as Genin. Reports indicated strong Ninjutsu but nothing else. When it came to Naruto's records however, the blonde was curious what it would say.

"Huh, this is odd," Kabuto said, showing everyone Naruto's card. The card had a recent picture of Naruto, the same on from his shinobi records, but most of the information was blacked out, "So much classified information. Sorry Sasuke-san, but the records don't even display his last name, mission record or known Village affiliations."

Sasuke grunted in acceptance, frowning at the ever mysterious blonde he had witnessed move at incredible speeds. His eyes scanned the crowd before landing on Naruto, intently staring at his forehead protector. He nodded towards him, "That's him over there. What Village is that on his forehead?"

Kabuto seemed to ponder for a moment. "I'm unsure, but it's not one of the major ones."

Naruto cheekily grinned and waved when he noticed the majority of the Konoha Genin staring at him.

Before anything else could develop, a puff of smoke appeared at the other end of the room, revealing a group of shinobi. _'Oh, he looks like Morino Ibiki, torture specialist. It's said that he can break any and every target. Quite the reputation.'_

Naruto sighed. The true purpose of the test was clear to him and it was obvious that at least three of the teams in the room were actually Chunin with pre-written answers. That was, quite frankly, boring. He had a whole hour for only nine questions, so instead of obtaining the answers the ninja way he decided to let his mind go for a jog and figure out the answers through analytical skill. Raising his hand he got the attention of a supervisor.

"Excuse me, could I have another sheet of paper? I'd like to run some calculations." He politely requested and got what he asked for.

His attention focused on the first question. There were several factors here, but by deconstructing the question it became quite apparent that all he needed here was some basic trigonometry, multiplication and knowledge of physics. Drawing a triangle on his separate sheet of paper he filled in the known information before quickly doing some basic algebra for the physics side. A minute later he knew exactly how long the kunai needed to hit the target, factoring in wind resistance, weight, gravity, force used in the throw and distance. _'Huh, this is actually pretty fun.'_

Half an hour later and Naruto was done. Before succumbing to boredom induced-sleep, he quickly decided to spend the rest of the time trying to see what skills the people around him employed to cheat without getting caught, as a significant amount of teams had already been eliminated for being too damn obvious.

The Hyuga girl next to him was clearly using her bloodline, the Byakugan. His clone mentally informed him that the Uchiha was using his Sharingan to copy pencil movements of the person in front of him. The Aburame naturally used his bugs to gain intel. What Naruto found most impressive was the teamwork of Team Gai. The Hyuga and weapons girl figured the test out immediately and immediately set to getting the answers to their disadvantaged teammate through clever use of reflections and wordless communication.

**- Break -**

Naruto had to admit that Anko was kind of hot, as odd as he found he had to admit it to himself. She had lots of redeemable qualities from what he could gather: she was strong, didn't take shit from anyone, was comfortable in her skin and wore a badass trench coat. As soon as he was let into the Forest of Death, he closed his eyes and touched the ground, sending a pulse of chakra out to attune himself to the nature of the forest to locate the nearest Genins. Finding three teams to take on, Naruto made a few clones to take the teams out and bring their scrolls back to him. He himself travelled towards the nearest river to catch some fish – he was really hungry. Catching fish was easy, especially if you had experience with Suiton jutsu. Using his senses to predict the fishs' movement combined with a wind chakra laced senbon equalled one dead fish. About a dozen grilled and gutted fishes later, Naruto felt full.

An hour later, Naruto finished his lunch and to his pleasure, had three of his clones return with scrolls. He'd been given a heavenly one, now he had two sets of both. His clones and their henged clone partners took out a team from Kiri, a team from Kusa and even a team from Kumo who were by far the strongest of the three teams, actually wiping out most of his clones.

As he prepared to head out and explore the forest a bit, a massive spike of chakra attracted his attention. He frowned. _'That's a lot of chakra, easily more than many Genins are capable of. It felt like a summon.'_

Speeding through the trees Naruto arrived just in time to see a pale Genin pummel the Uchiha boy. Deciding to observe the situation first, Naruto suppressed his chakra and stayed in the shadows of the trees. Sasuke managed to break the Kusa nin's suppressive killing intent by stabbing himself, stalling long enough for Sai to return, looking like he'd just been swallowed by a snake. Sasuke and Sai held on quite admirably for a while, bombarding their enemy with technique after technique but it was obvious to Naruto that they were being toyed with. Sai's ink-based jutsu were very intriguing and seemed to be great at holding their opponent off, but didn't do much damage at all.

Sakura just stood in the back and watched on, helpless. _'If she actually contributed something to the fight, they might have had a shot at chasing him away.' _Naruto idly thought, as Sasuke managed to bind the enemy to a tree with wire while Sai blocked the pale nin's limbs with his ink animals as Sasuke summoned the rest of his chakra to spew his strongest Katon techniques at their opponent.

The smoke from the fire obscured everyone's vision for a second, causing an eerie silence to descend over them.

"Ku ku ku ku," Came the creepy laugh from where a crisp burnt corpse _should_ have been melted into the tree, "quite impressive Sasuke-kun, yet nowhere near as impressive as Itachi-kun was at your age."

The smoke cleared, revealing a very much disfigured _something_ stand on the tree branch. Naruto's eyes widened before he quickly made three clones, one to find Jiraiya, one to find Tsunade, one to find the Hokage. Naruto immediately recognized the face of Orochimaru as he casually peeled off the melting skin covering his real face. The comment he made to Sasuke clearly agitated him if the hate in his eyes was anything to go by.

Orochimaru casually strolled across the clearing, picking up a sturdy branch on the way, coming to a stop before Team 7. Sai carefully reached into his pocket and threw their Earth scroll at the approaching nin's feet, saying "You have our scroll. We'll leave now."

The Legendary Sannin looked amused. "And what would that accomplish?" Before any Team 7 member could react, the launched the branch he had picked up at Sai, hitting him right in jaw and knocking the exhausted boy out.

"Sai!" Sakura fearfully exclaimed, frozen in shock. The branch would not have weighed as much as a kunai yet that _monster_ had _thrown_ it hard enough to knock Sai out.

Laughing quietly to himself, Orochimaru continued his slow approach. "I'm not here for some scroll, no, I'm here for you, Sasuke-kun." He explained, fixing his serpent-like eyes on the last Uchiha in Konoha.

Naruto tensed in the trees, he would have to interfere any moment now. He prepared himself mentally. _'So that's what Orochimaru is after. The Sharingan.'_

"Since your older brother is too old to take and too strong to beat, I thought I'd visit you, little Sasuke-kun. I'll never understand what your brother saw in you to keep you alive, but I'll thank him for it once I get your precious little eyes. Yes Sasuke-kun, you'll make an excellent host. You should feel honoured to be a tool for me to fulfil my needs." The pale man drawled. He stopped about two meters away from Sasuke and turned his killing intent on full blast, freezing the two members of Team 7 in place.

Slowly raising his hand to form a half seal for whatever twisted technique, Orochimaru loosened his neck which started to expand and then shot forward, aimed at Sasuke.

With a strong leap, Naruto jumped…

Just in time to slam a bright blue orb into the extended neck of the Snake Sannin as his fangs pierced Sasuke's skin.

Orochimaru's neck made a sickening squelching sound as it was easily ripped in half by Naruto's Rasengan. Glancing at the Uchiha quickly, Naruto frowned. Whatever Orochimaru had done had caused Sasuke to fall to his knees with his teeth grit in pain, panting hard while clutching his neck. He looked up with a agony in his eyes, yet still managed to look shocked at Naruto's sudden appearance.

Naruto looked at Orochimaru, whose limp neck retracted to the body before slowly spewing forth another, in slime covered, head.

"My my, how rude. I was busy giving Sasuke-kun a present." He commented as he cracked his new neck and head. The Sannin would never admit it, but he was certainly surprised to have this blonde kid interfere out of nowhere. He hadn't sensed this newcomer at all and anyone strong enough to get the drop on Orochimaru was of interest to the corrupted man.

"Sorry, sorry," Naruto said happily, tapping two seals on his wrists, "but, while I have nothing against gay people, faggots like you who give prostate exams with both hands on someone's shoulders just rubs me the wrong way, y'know?"

Naruto's arms were covered in poof of smoke, revealing his gauntlets. A humming sound could be heard as he channelled charka into his weapons in preparation. "Now, Orochimaru of the Sannin, I don't think we've met. My name's Naruto and I'm going to be your opponent for a while."

With speeds known only to the strongest of shinobi, Naruto appeared next to the Snake Sannin, launching his fist straight at his target's side which Orochimaru couldn't sidestep, so he blocked it, quite surprised at the blonde's speed. Realizing his mistake, Orochimaru felt the charged chakra before its actual effects, breaking straight through his block and sending the surprised Sannin straight into an adjacent tree.

The Sannin's eyes narrowed in anger as he dusted himself off, dodging Naruto's next attack and quickly retaliating with a roundhouse kick which Naruto expertly dodged, countering with a leg sweep. He knew that Jiraiya was stronger than Orochimaru in Taijutsu and that most of the rogue Sannin's close quarter prowess came from his skill with his sword, the famed Kusanagi. With this in mind, the Taijutsu battle continued, Naruto determined to not let Orochimaru summon his sword otherwise his stalling techniques would become less effective. He needed to keep him busy until Jiraiya and Tsunade came.

Orochimaru growled in annoyance. His assailant was good, far too good for a Genin. The kid was very gifted in Taijutsu, especially with his deadly gloves. The Sannin's eyes darted to the right, just in time to block a Kage Bushin's leg, barely leaving him enough time to sidestep another Kage Bushin's upper cut. He hadn't even sensed the Genin create the clones. Orochimaru idly pondered his situation as he dodged another fist. He noticed the increased attacks from clones as well as increased ferocity and speed displayed by the original. _'At this rate I'll need to draw Kusanagi.' _He thought, genuinely impressed that a mere Genin could corner him far enough for him to resort to using a weapon.

A spike in chakra caught his attention as he looked below to see the ground erupt into a stone fist, slamming into his abdomen and launching him in the air. A fireball flew at him from the ground, causing him to fly through his own hand seals and shoot and equally large fireball back, causing an explosion which propelled both of them apart.

'_Shit,'_ Naruto thought, _'that explosion put enough distance between us for him to use Ninjutsu or access Kusanagi. Damn.'_

Naruto concentrated on a decent amount of chakra for a strong Shunshin to close as much distance between him and his enemy. As the smoke cleared he saw Orochimaru wield the legendary sword and cursed mentally. _'This just got a whole lot harder.'_

"You're pretty good Naruto-kun, I'm very impressed. Let's play a bit longer, shall we?" Orochimaru said with a grin, dashing at him with his sword trailing behind him. Forming a quick set of seals, Orochimaru thrust his free palm towards the blonde Genin, "Futon: Great Breakthrough!"

A blast of concentrated wind slammed into Naruto's crossed forearms as Orochimaru leapt into the air with a suddenly burning Kusanagi in mid slash towards Naruto whose gauntlets glowed as he met the Sannin head-on. A loud clash rang through the forest as the two chakra enhanced weapons met, the clashing Fire and Water chakra fighting for dominance as they created trails of stream as Naruto weaved out of and dodged Orochimaru's vicious strikes, slashes and stabs.

Orochimaru himself had a vicious smirk on his face, he was greatly enjoying fighting this little Genin. He wasn't going all out, but he was definitely putting in as much effort as he would fighting someone of Kakashi's calibre. Not quite as high as he would against his former team mates or any of the Akatsuki members, but for a mere _Genin_, this Naruto brat was excellent, perhaps stronger than Itachi had been at the age.

Replacing his severed head and neck earlier as well as being interrupted in the Curse Seal transfer technique had taken up a very sizable chunk of Orochimaru's chakra, hence his decision to resort to less intensive jutsu and Kusanagi should their clash attract the attention of the examiners.

Naruto changed the chakra in his gloves to Wind and swiped at the blade with his left hand, violently deflecting it due to the rotation effect the chakra had on his gloves. His other arm was covered in violently rotating Wind chakra too, reminding Orochimaru of a drill as he barely dodged, causing Naruto to land a glancing hit, which still left Orochimaru's free arm and shoulder significantly shredded, sickly green blood flowing down his shoulder. Orochimaru leapt backwards and curiously examined the damage on his body.

Naruto moved his gloves behind his back, tapping a seal on the back of his pouch and threw two kunai, before using his speed to throw a flurry of punches at Orochimaru. The Snake Sanin kept up easily, noting that Naruto was moving his feet a lot more, attacking from more obscure angles. Before he could interpret the meaning of the change in pattern, he found himself flung off his feet and slammed into a tree. His smirk widened at what had happened. The two kunai Naruto had thrown at him had been attached to ninja wire, wire that Naruto had attached to his gloves too. He used his strikes and quick sidesteps to weave the neigh invisible wire around Orochimaru's body and then used his Kunai as anchors to pin him to the tree. Very smart.

Naruto grinned as he saw Orochimaru look at him in understanding. "Not done yet."

With that, the wire glowed before cutting into whatever part of Orochimaru's body they were tied around. Realizing that the wire was loaded with chakra, Orochimaru suddenly melted into the tree and reappeared on one of its low branches, bleeding out of thin slits all over his limbs.

"Those gloves of yours are quite something, a very appropriate choice for someone of your fighting style." Orochimaru commented casually, focusing his chakra as his wounds closed slowly, leaving his skin and flesh unmarred.

"Thanks you creepy fuck. Do you shove that sword up your arse regularly, by the way? It looks pretty well lubricated, I'm sure a scientist of your statue has found a way to convert it into a massive dildo." Naruto retorted, using the verbal jabs to come up with his next approach. Even if he hit the blade head on it didn't seem to even scratch, so he'd have to keep it blocked or occupied to land free hits on his opponent.

Orochimaru merely raised a non-existent eyebrow at the verbal jabs before raising his hand and shooting a mass of snakes at Naruto in an attempt to keep him in place. Naruto scoffed before his hands flew through a set of seals, "Raiton: Senbon!"

Launching a dozen of senbon from his pouch, Naruto imbued them with Lightning chakra before flashing through another set of seals. Suddenly a dozen of senbon were closer to three dozen, all crackling with electrifying energy. The needles found their targets and neutralized the snakes, each snake's brain fired and overloaded from the electricity just in case the needle didn't hit it in a vital spot.

Orochimaru pointed Kusanagi at Naruto and to the Genin's surprise, the weapon extended at a very rapid rate, forcing him to twirl to his side to very barely avoid being impaled. The tip left a gash in his shirt and a few mere milliseconds later would have probably killed him. The sword impaled the tree behind him with ease. Even in its extended form, Orochimaru seemed to have no issues swinging a sword of that length, forcing Naruto to drop and roll to deflect the blade with his gauntlets while trying to get closer. Frustrated and knowing that it'd be a matter of time before his opponent would get a lucky swipe in, Naruto sped through a moderately long series of hand signs.

"Doton: Swamp of the Underworld!"

Slamming his hands on the ground, the Snake Sannin's eyes narrowed as he recognized his former teammate's technique. Scoffing, he retracted his blade and leapt high into the trees where he was immediately put on defence by Naruto's vicious strikes. His eyes widened as he blocked Naruto's glove just short of his chest, before two spikes of Wind chakra bent around his blade and pierced his torso. Once more, Orochimaru shrugged off his injuries and continued his assault with renewed vigour, wanting to see the boy bleed and handle the slow acting effects of being poisoned by his sword.

Naruto pumped more chakra into his body to keep up with the Sannin. Orochimaru didn't even look winded but Naruto felt his attacks get stronger and stronger – one misstep here and he could easily die. Fortunately, luck was Naruto's side. His eyes widened slightly as his clones dispelled and he prepared himself. Jumping back to the ground, Naruto engaged Orochimaru shortly before finalizing his plan. He jumped back and created close to a hundred Kage Bushin, once more surprising the Sannin. _'Not even I could make that many clones with ease… Which means he must have some sort of chakra amplifying technique, seal, or something to increase his reserves.'_

His train of thought was interrupted by the incoming wave of clones as Orochimaru started dispelling them with Kusanagi while preparing another technique with one handed seals. Throwing Kusanagi at a clone, he took a deep breath before exhaling.

A deep purple liquid spew forth, instantly dispelling any clone it came in contact with before evaporating. The clones inhaling the evaporated fumes dispelled too. After another spewing of the acid, all of Naruto's clones were gone, leaving Orochimaru to hold out his hand to summon Kusanagi back to him.

However, the clones had served the purpose of keeping the Sannin busy for a little while as Naruto prepared his next move, hidden in the shadows of the absurdly tall trees. Beads of sweat ran down his face as his brows furrowed in concentration. The Genin held his hand similarly to how he heard Kakashi held his when charging the Raikiri, with his left hand clutching his right wrist, pumping a lot of chakra into his arm. In his gloved palm Naruto held a seemingly transparent orb or pure wind, slightly larger than the Rasengan which was wide enough to cover most of his hand. The wind was wildly rotating around itself, like a miniature hurricane in the shape of a ball, generating enough passive wind for Naruto's clothes to flutter. His forearm was similarly covered in a cone of wind reaching all the way to his elbow, rotating clockwise in one layer and counter-clockwise in the other.

Orochimaru felt the large surge of chakra and looked on, curious as to what the child had come up with this time. He was contemplating killing him before he would reach the level of Itachi, but perhaps he would find another use in letting the boy live. All of a sudden Sasuke-kun didn't interest him as much.

He saw Naruto burst forth from a tree, running down perpendicularly to the ground, his right arm trailing behind him while his other hand went through a sequence of one handed seal, causing Orochimaru to smirk – this boy was full of pleasant surprises. The Sannin prepared for whatever Naruto was charging with, willing to see what this young genius would throw at him, so he casually held Kusanagi at his side. Naruto finished his sequence just as he reached the ground, causing Orochimaru's eyebrows to rise as he saw the numerous senbon Naruto had thrown earlier around him begin to twitch. They all jumped into the air before impaling themselves into the ground. A second later, each place a senbon penetrated the earth, an arm in the form of mud came alive, grabbing onto Orochimaru's limbs.

"Oh? Restraining me Naruto-kun? This better be your best shot!" He said calmly, preparing himself. Surely the kid didn't know anything more destructive than the Rasengan?

"I hope you're ready for this, you child molesting punk!" Naruto yelled, having reached his maximum speed.

About ten meters away from the passive Orochimaru, he came to an abrupt stop by stomping on the ground with his left food, thrusting his right, Wind covered, arm in front of him, as if hitting the air with an open-palm strike.

'_He'll regret being underestimating me and giving me a free shot!'_

"**Futon: Bladestorm!"**

Orochimaru's eyes widened at what he witnessed happening the second Nartuo's hand had shot forward. The orb in Naruto's hand seemed to explode outwards and then seemed to be directed by the wind spiralling in opposite directions over two layers surround Naruto's forearm. When the orb and spirals combined, shooting forward instantaneously in the shape of a very large cone, far too large for Orochimaru to dodge on such short notice. He quickly channelled his remaining chakra into his torso and ripped his arms free from their confines to protect his head to the best of their ability.

The wind inside the cone or tunnel of wind quite literally consisted of tremendous blades of chakra in form of Wind chakra, obliterating everything they cut through. The chaotic nature of this was caused by the fact that Naruto had managed to create two opposing spinning layers of chakra to combine the already volatile orb with.

The effect lasted for just over five seconds, in which an extremely noticeable section of the forest of unnaturally large trees had been reduced to splinters and kindling. Naruto was panting heavily, hoping he had caused enough damage to at least disable Orochimaru as he doubted he could perform it again under such perfect circumstances. He hadn't managed to perform the jutsu on this scale before, its expansion and destructive power greatly amplified by him running down tree at full speed before unleashing his technique.

Orochimaru looked terrible. It was a miracle that he wasn't part of the kindling around him, mainly thanks to the various scientific and ritualistic changes his body had undergone. He mentally berated himself for underestimating the child, such a technique was truly devastating, even though it had several drawbacks, such as high preparation time, which he had given Naruto freely. His body was now covered in deep, bloody gashes; no part of his body had been spared. He was now dangerously low on chakra, ensuring his survival had taken almost too much out of him.

He considered Naruto in front of him, the kid's breathing was already stabilizing and he straightened, tapping his gloves together, sparking them with Wind Chakra once more while wearily staring at Orochimaru.

"Tell me Naruto-kun, who taught you?" He inquired as he ignored the state of his body – Kabuto could fix him up easily enough once he got out of here.

"That, Orochimaru, would've been us." A new voice said from behind him, causing the Sannin to quickly turn around. Behind him stood his two former teammates, Jiraiya and Tsunade as well as their old sensei, the Sandaime Hokage. Flanking them were two squads of ANBU.

He sneered at the mere sight of them, letting out a disgusted grunt as he freed his legs with a simple movement. "I see you still have a thing for blonde kids, Jiraiya-chan."

"And I see you still enjoy blowing yourself with that extendable mouth of yours." Jiraiya instantly replied.

Orochimaru was now in a bad position: any of the present ninja could finish him off. He only had one escape technique that would ensure his escape, but would weaken his body significantly in its current state. _'It certainly beats being captured.' _ Was the reasoning. With a smirk, he formed a single seal before his skin started to glow brighter and brighter, putting everyone on edge. Before anyone could react, Orochimaru's skin shone as bright as the sun, causing everyone to avert their eyes instantly. "Next time you won't get off so easily, Naruto-kun…" was the last thing everyone heard before the light faded and the ever elusive snake was gone.

**- Break -**

"Would anyone else like to forfeit now?" The sickly proctor Gekko Hayate asked. The two disguised clones behind Naruto raised their hands before silently leaving the hall after Kabuto, and surprisingly, Sai. Sai said he was still unstable after receiving a massive concussion and had no charka left to fight, hence the forfeit.

As questioning looks settled on Naruto from the proctor, the blonde shrugged, "What? They were dead tired; we took out, like, eight teams." He explained casually. This was true, actually. After informing the two loyal Sannin and the Sandaime about his fight, giving an accurate recount and being commended for his actions, he was allowed to proceed to the tower. On the way he was ambushed by a few teams which he quickly knocked out, while hunting down some more on the way to the tower just to pass some time.

Jiraiya had immediately taken a look at Sasuke's neck, finding only a singular tomoe imprinted on his neck. Jiraiya seemed extremely relieved about that, saying that Naruto interfered in just the right moment and that with only a third of the seal applied, he could either reverse engineer it to remove it or bind it.

Right after Naruto had attacked Orochimaru, a pair of clones had taken Sakura and Sasuke high into the trees and applied what field aid he could, snapping Sasuke out of his paralysis and calming Sakura down. Another pair had taken Sai, mainly to confirm Jiraiya's suspicion of him being one of Danzo's operatives. True enough, they had found the same seal on the back of his tongue as every ROOT operative had.

Speaking of Team 7, Naruto's clones had taken the two conscious members far enough for them to be safe from the collateral damage of the fight between Naruto and Orochimaru, but still close enough for them to see everything comfortably as they nursed their wounds.

Both of them were awed at Naruto's display of fighting prowess, holding his own against an S-Ranked missing nin. Once the pain in Sasuke's neck died down, he asked, "Your name is Naruto, right?"

One of the clones turned around and nodded. "And your name is Sasuke, last Uchiha loyal to Konoha."

Sasuke nodded – that much was common knowledge. "How did you get so strong? Strong enough to fight someone like Orochimaru? You can't be older than us." He asked. There was nothing more he wanted than to avenge his clan and he was confident that he could easily take on most Genins of his year and perhaps most of the older Genins too, perhaps even a few Chunin, but he wasn't delusional. This blonde kid was on a whole different level, a level he needed to reach before ever being able to kill Itachi. It didn't even irk him to admit the blonde was stronger than anyone he'd ever seen their age, that's how explosive his power seemed.

Naruto's gaze seemed to pierce Sasuke, scrutinizing him for a moment before allowing himself a small smile. "I had good teachers, but that's not it. Not even the best teachers in the world could teach an unwilling student. I don't fight for the sake of fighting, or even for myself. I fight to fulfil my dreams and protect my friends. That bastard down there is someone who has hurt people precious to me more than anyone else and I want to kill him so he can't ever again hurt someone so deeply." The clone explained, looking deadly serious, noting the look of understanding in Sasuke's eyes.

"I trained every single day. I can't remember the last time I did nothing productive. Every single day of my life I've spent doing something to further myself, even on my birthdays. Many of my presents were jutsus to use or skills to learn. I train to failure, without breaks. Even on my off days, my teachers ensured I'd do something else to sharpen my mind or body, even if I didn't realize it when I was a kid."

The clone turned back to the fight and scoffed. "But I'm not strong enough yet. He's toying with me. Orochimaru isn't even going all out. He has 40 years' worth of experience and skill on me, but I'll make up for it. Right now Boss is about to unleash one of his strongest abilities in hopes of forcing Orochimaru to retreat. I know all about you, Sasuke-san, and your ambition to kill your brother. If you want to become stronger, you're gonna need help – a lot of it. We can talk later, for now, watch closely. This move is awesome." Naruto-clone said, turning back to the fight.

And it had been awesome indeed. From their vantage point they could see exactly how much damage Naruto's technique did to the forest.

As Gekko explained the rules for the preliminaries, Sasuke legitimately hoped he wouldn't have to fight Naruto. Naruto seemed energized and relaxed, a sure sign of confidence, meaning the effects of the fight against Orochimaru were already gone. Sasuke on the other hand had only about half his chakra, a throbbing neck, little in terms of equipment as he had blown most of it against Orochimaru and the two teams they took out in the last two days to get to the next round.

He glanced at the screen.

_Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akado Yoroi_

Sasuke sighed in relief. While he wanted to get stronger to kill Itachi, he didn't want to remain a Genin forever as that would bar him from getting on high ranked missions which could make him stronger, nor would he have access to the same resources that someone like Kakashi had to spare. Fighting against the freakishly strong blonde would set him back by 6 months in that advancement apartment before he even had a shot at the finals. As that freaky Rock Lee had proven, his Sharingan was useless if he was physically incapable of keeping up with eyes or opponent.

He recalled the words of the Hokage and the blonde haired woman in the forest. Whatever that Snake bastard did to him could interfere with his chakra control and access should he run too low and should he show signs of influence by the seal the Hokage himself would interfere.

The Uchiha paid little mind to the taunts of the odd looking Genin and charged in. Sasuke quickly regretted that decision, as he felt an odd drain on his chakra as his opponent had grabbed his arm in an attempt to pin him. Jerking his arm violently, he jumped backwards, panting. _'This guy can absorb my chakra by holding onto me? Tsk.'_

"Figured it out you little brat? Not so high and mighty now, oh great Uchiha?" Yoroi taunted, his words once more falling on deaf ears.

'_He won that last trade too easily. I'm at a quarter chakra now, his absorption rate is stupidly fast.' _Sasuke mused, _'I don't have enough power for any of my Katon techniques, no time to prepare a Genjutsu so I'm stuck with Taijutsu which plays directly into his hands. Think, think, think. How can I fight him close up without letting him touch me to drain me?'_

Glancing at the stands for a moment his eyes spotted Naruto looking at him with calculating eyes. _'What would that guy do?'_

An idea struck him right as Yoroi charged at him, causing Sasuke to quickly leap away, focusing on maintaining his distance. His plan would use up all his remaining equipment and was a gamble anyway, if he couldn't pull off what he had never even tried before then he was done for.

"Running away you brat? C'mere, I'll show you what a real ninja can do!"

Before Yoroi could get his hands on Sasuke, the raven haired boy smirked as he dodged a swipe and retaliated with a leg sweep, causing Naruto in the stands to grin. A side-kick to the older shinobi's groin caused him to yelp in pain before leaping away. Before he could regain his senses, a smoke bomb went off, covering the area Sasuke was occupying with smoke.

'_I have 20 seconds.'_ The Genin thought, quickly reaching into his pouch to retrieve his last two kunai, six shuriken and roll of tape as well as his last twenty meters of wire.

Taping his fingers and hands palms quickly, Sasuke nodded and took a deep breath. He'd need the last of his chakra for his Sharingan – he had one shot at this or he'd be done.

Yoroi had regained his senses and wearily regarded the smoke, furious as hell. "You fucking cheap bastard, kicking me in the groin! Pathetic!"

Again, Sasuke didn't verbally retaliate. Yoroi pulled out a kunai to throw into the smoke to find out where his enemy was. A kunai shot out of the smoke before he could though, causing him to deflect it with his own, lodging it in the wall below the stands. Another kunai flew out which was also deflected, embedding themselves in the ground. Yoroi threw his own kunai into the smoke where he guessed Sasuke was.

Sasuke easily dodged and leapt out of the smoke, instantly striking at Yoroi with his fist. Yoroi immediately regrated his decision to block instead of dodging as his forearm now sprouted three moderately deep cuts.

Looking at his enemy, he noticed that Sasuke had changed his hands, or rather, had weaponized them. He had taped the three shuriken to his hand, one in between each set of two fingers, the inner side of the stars' blades blocked by tape from cutting his hand and then taped so that they were stuck to his hand. This would block Sasuke from opening his hands for now, but it would do.

Sasuke immediately continued his assault, his eyes blazing a furious red. His two shuriken-taped fists were just below his eye level and Sasuke kept his weight on his toes, continuously shifting his weight from one leg to another. Yoroi lept backwards but Sasuke was right up his alley, not letting the opposing Genin put any space between them. The bespectacled Genin lashed at the Uchiha who merely ducked the right hook easily thanks to his enhanced vision. His plan was working so far, the only part of his body he'd let get in contact with Yoroi were his now very dangerous fists while staying close enough for the Genin to not use and long distance attacks.

The raven haired ninja was patient, all he needed was a good opening and for that he needed to frustrate his opponent or get him desperate. Another side step to the left followed by a quick jab to the guy's shoulder and the enemy Genin spouted another three bloody cuts.

Yoroi realized that Sasuke was wearing him down while not giving him enough time or body contact to make use of his absorption technique, shutting him down. He didn't let him move backwards to use a Ninjutsu to keep Sasuke rooted. His concentration wavered as felt the toll on his body as he tried moving his injured shoulder. Sasuke's Sharingan eyes immediately picked up on that detail, anticipating another attempt to grab him and driving his fist into the incoming leg's calf. Yoroi cried out in pain which fuelled his adrenalin induced rage.

"I'll show you, you fucking little bastard!" He cried out, jumping out with his leg bent to strike Sasuke's head from the side.

'_There, finally. Perfect.'_

Suddenly Sasuke took a step backwards before moving both fists above his head. Just before Yoroi kicked him, he slammed his fists downward with a loud grunt.

The effect was instantaneous. Yoroi's flight patch was drastically altered as he was ripped from his position mid-air and got slammed into a wall. He was now hanging sideways, with his two injured limbs attached to the two kunai he deflected earlier which had lodged themselves into the wall. His injured limbs were covered in what he now identified as ninja wire and his eyes widened as he saw Sasuke slowly walk up the wall, his Sharingan deactivated and his feet imbued with chakra to let him walk up the wall. His hands were freed from the tape and shuriken.

Despite the wounds and blood loss, Yoroi was still conscious, trying to reach the strings with his good arm, fighting gravity which by now had forced several streaks of crimson blood to strain the wall.

"Yield." Sasuke's tired voice demanded just before he reached the bound Genin.

"Fuck yo-"

A fist slammed into his temple, knocking the injured Genin out.

"Winner, Uchiha Sasuke!"

Sasuke looked up at Naruto's widely grinning face, giving him a nod of appreciation and acknowledgement. If it hadn't been for the blonde using that little trick against Orochimaru he would have been out for sure. Naruto shot him a thumbs up.

"Good fight man! You didn't even copy that with your eyes yet managed to imitate my boxing style pretty well! Very nicely done." Naruto complimented as he walked past the blonde towards his waiting sensei and Sakura.

"Thanks." He managed to mutter, feeling a bit odd for saying it. He'd never really thanked anyone in what was perhaps years' worth of time.

The other Genin looked suitably impressed with his performance. Kakashi smiled proudly and Sakura just stared at him in star-struck awe.

"Well done Sasuke, I'm proud." Kakashi said, ruffling his hair. The boy didn't even have enough energy to fight off his teacher's affectionate praise. He slumped to the floor and leaned against the wall where he could rest and still watch the rest of the fights before visiting the infirmary.

He glanced around the room. Ino seemed similarly awed to Sakura, Kiba looked at him with respect, muttering something about him showing off cool shit. The rest of the Genin didn't look too affected. The red-haired Suna kid glared at him, the Rock Lee kid was yelling about the match being youthful alongside his sensei and the Hyuga gave him a cold penetrating glare which he happily returned despite his physical state.

The Hyuga's teammate, Tenten he recalled her name, looked at him appreciatively. He figured it was due to the fact that he had neutralized the enemy using weapon based attacks and tactics, something she could appreciate more than anyone else.

**- Break -**

And so the matches continued, giving Sasuke some good intel on the fighting style of all the competitors that made it through to the finals. Shikamaru could bind people with his shadow and physically control them, Shino could absorb chakra with his bugs and get into any orifice, neither Sakura nor Ino could do anything impressive except for yell at the other much to his annoyance, swearing that Kami showed mercy on him as the two knocked each other out, disqualifying them both from the rest of the exam. Kankuro had easily tricked his opponent into thinking he had been captured only to crush Misumi's body, disabling the nin immediately. The sound nin, Dosu, could manipulate sonic waves to throw off one's sense of balance, which he used to knock out Choji in one clean hit.

Temari and Tenten had been interesting to watch, Temari had barely won. After she had negated Tenten's long distance weapon barrage, Tenten had merely discarded that idea before picking up a Naginata and charging at the dirty blonde to engage her close up. Temari had been forced to pull out all stops and only won after she blew almost all her chakra covering the entire arena in wild hurricane to throw Tenten off balance and knocking her out by slamming her into a wall with a blast of wind. Temari was a typical area-of-effect fighter and seemed to have little in terms of single-targeted techniques.

The Gaara kid, though, was something entirely different. Sasuke had witnessed in well-disguised horror as he decimated Rock Lee, the same Genin who had beat him without breaking a sweat or activating those gates to use his special aerial move. Sasuke hadn't been able to keep up with the spandex-clad kid _with_ his weights and _without_ the chakra boost, he was sure he would have been crushed instantly of Lee had used his maximum power against him, Sharingan or not.

Gaara still defeated him. His control over the sand was impeccable and could only be defeated by being faster than his reaction time or somehow brutally breaking through the defences, both of which Lee managed at stages in the fight. The redhead had almost killed Lee, only managing to crush half his body before Gai interfered.

This caused Sasuke to pause in his analysis of the matches. This day was very odd for him as he experienced many new things. He was used to being the best of the best among his peers and it certainly felt very strange to acknowledge that he had seen at least three people of his age and status that he knew could beat him fair and square if he was brutally honest with himself. This sense off strangeness quickly changed into determination. If he could become strong enough to beat these Genin, he was a step closer to killing Itachi.

Glancing up at Kakashi he saw the man on edge and looking very grim and angered. He had obviously been about to interfere as well, angered by the extent Gaara unnecessarily inflicted harm on Gai's student.

The second last fight was between the two Hyuga. Sasuke closed his eyes and sighed. He had an odd sense of respect for the girl. She never fawned over him in the Academy, her grades had been top notch, and she only spoke when necessary and generally kept to herself. Yet she was easily flustered and seemed to lack confidence, the exact opposite of her dick of a cousin who exuded confidence.

It was a massacre, really. She had no chance and after a few minutes of losing trades against Neji she collapsed. Surprisingly enough she got back up, muttering about wanting to change, only to be knocked down twice again. Sasuke grit his teeth. On one side, it was her own fault for being weak and lacking confidence, on the other hand, he'd never senselessly beat someone like that. She was spewing blood for god's sake, the proctor should've called the match when she collapsed the first time.

He looked to his left to see Naruto looking extremely displeased. His eyes were narrow, his one fist was clenched tightly, the other was slowly bending the rail it held on to. If Sasuke had been more empathetic he'd know that Naruto could see a lot similar traits in the small and frail girl, wanting to never give up on her dreams and change so she could fulfil her goals, yet that Neji boy was systematically decimating her, taunting her, and verbally abusing her, gloating and basking in his superiority, spewing some shit about fate.

When Hinata got up a second time, her cousin charged at her in rage and fury, his palm visibly glowing.

"Hyuga Neji, stop!" The Sandaime yelled, not willing to see what would happen should Hinata the Hyuuga Heiress die here, especially at the hands of one of her own clan members.

Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma and Gai leapt instantly, but were all too late.

Not too late to save Hinata, too late to save Neji from a black blur clashing into him, sending the boy flying ribs-first into a stone pillar.

Neji looked up, coughing painfully. Above him stood a blonde haired Genin, probably even shorter than Neji by half a head.

"You dare disobey the direct order of the Hokage? For such a genius prodigy you sure are an incompetent shit stain." Naruto growled aggressively, shocking many with his vulgar language. A certain purple-haired Jonin cackled in glee; she liked that kid already. "Don't even let me get started on that little speech about fate, Hyuga Neji. For all your praise as a genius and rookie of your year, you sure are a blind retard. Pathetic. But since words don't work with your kind, I'll just have to beat some common sense into your head, no?"

A glove appeared on Naruto's hand, which he cocked back while his other hand grabbed Neji by the collar and lifted him to his eye level without breaking a sweat. Seemingly intent on staying true to his words to do exactly what he declared, a firm grip caught his wrist before he could send the Hyuga's brain all over the ground.

"Stop, Naruto." His eyes met Tsunade's. She didn't look very happy either, but grimly asserted her will over his in a spike of killing intent that had many Genin gasping for air.

Naruto's fiery eyes stayed locked on her calm ones for a tense moment before he unceremoniously dropped Neji to the ground, who scrambled backwards. Many Jonin looked on in surprise as they observed the unknown blonde Genin as Hinata was rushed to the medics. None of them would've had the gall to just blow Neji into a wall like that, nor would they have hesitated to obey an order from Tsunade like that.

As he walked away from Neji to the centre of the arena where he'd be fighting as only him and Kiba were left, he turned his head back slightly to glance at Neji once more, before coldly speaking, "Mark my words you pathetic excuse for a shinobi of this village, I _will _come for you in the finals, if only to teach your arrogant and pompous ass a lesson. Since words obviously don't work on you, I'll just hiy you so hard over and over that the only coherent thought you'll have left is that you are wrong. That much I promise you."

A very disappointed looking Maito Gai picked a stunned Neji up and slowly walked to the infirmary with him to make sure Naruto didn't damage him too significantly.

Kiba leapt down to the arena, looking at Naruto cockily. Sure the blonde had seemed fast enough to blindside Neji, but he hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings.

"Naruto vs. Inuzuka Kiba, begin!" The proctor yelled as the senior shinobi cleared the field. Everyone seemed intrigued by the fact that Naruto had no last name, which wasn't terribly uncommon especially in kids born right during a war.

Naruto still had a very cold edge in his eyes, Sasuke observed. He had leaned forward the second Naruto had leapt, not at all surprised at by his speed and power, having witnessed it before against someone far more fearsome than a Hyuga boy.

"Heh, nice showing against that stuck up Hyuga, but against me your speed is noth-" Before Kiba could finish his taunt, he was sent flying into the far wall of the stadium, leaving an imprint in the concrete wall, passing out immediately.

A deafening silence settled over the spectators. Naruto looked at his hand which was covered in smoke before the glove disappeared; shot a cold glare towards the unconscious form of Kiba being peeled off the wall by Kurenai and slowly walked out of the hall, leaving behind a stunned crowd, a manically grinning Jinchuriki and a contemplative Uchiha.

**- Break -**

"You shouldn't have lost your temper like that, gaki." Jiraiya said in exasperation. He had found Naruto sitting atop the Hokage Mountain reading Icha Icha.

"I know." Naruto simply replied. "And normally I would not have given a shit but that kid pushed all the wrong buttons. You know what I think about people putting down others for their pleasure. The girl was obviously outclassed and still struggled on to continue to prove her self-worth to herself yet he continued when he could have knocked her out in the first five minutes of the fight. She was fighting for her own dream and goals and he tried to kill her, let's not even mention that they are _family._ The fact that he disobeyed Sandaime-jiji was just my excuse to hit him." The blonde explained to his teacher, who only sighed before lying down next to his pupil.

"You know I agree with you there, I had to stop Tsunade from jumping down there and giving the kid a piece of her own mind. But the real issue that you've attracted a lot of unwanted attention, people are curious about you now, especially all the Jonin and the Suna Jinchuriki. Your little display of speed didn't help when you pounded that Inuzuka. The Ichibi's host was practically drooling when you showed your strength, we're really gonna need to find out what kind of seal his village used on him." Jiraiya said as he lay on his stomach to scribble down some notes for the latest Icha Icha.

A moment of silenced passed.

"Your disguise as a Yukigakure nin isn't going to hold for long, not to mention that we could attract some very unwanted attention to Koyuki-hime's village if they think you're her soldier and people want answers or think that Yukigakure produces nin of your calliber easily. People are going to want to find out more about the Genin that destroyed the Inuzuka Clan's heir in a matter of seconds and put the Hyuga prodigy in his place without blinking." The Hermit continued nonchalantly, as if they were discussing the weather. "We can't keep your identity hidden for much longer, neither your Namikaze nor Uzumaki side."

Naruto grunted in agreement. "I don't care Ero-sensei, just tell people who I am. The Namikaze name is famous for dad's legendary status and the Uzumaki side is famous for being the best in the world at seals, so either name is gonna attract attention and enemies. Iwa will want to kill me when they find out whose son I am, everyone else is gonna wanna kidnap me when they found out I'm mom's clan's legacy, so it's really just that you need to pick a lesser of both evils and let them come. Nothing short of them sending their very best will be a threat to me, especially since you and Baa-chan are there to watch my back." The blonde casually commented, having known that his heritage would be revealed sooner or later.

"I think we'll go with Namikaze, for now." Jiraiya sighed, "Iwa has no remaining teams in the competition and aren't strong enough at the moment to send people for you. Since there's no choice of peace between Konoha and Iwa for the foreseeable future we might as well piss them off, or scare them, even more. I was hoping to avoid this; I know you're stronger than most people I could think of, but still."

"Well once I master dad's Hiraishin it won't matter anyway." Flipping a page, Naruto turned his head to his sensei. "Orochimaru will come after me too. I hope you have something good planned for me this upcoming month."

"Oh yes, I got a lot good stuff planned for you, gaki." Jiraiya said, looking serious. "We're going to be working on a way to fight the Ichibi without you having to draw on the Kyubi's power. Since you can summon something of equal size without breaking a sweat we've decided to have you deal with the Jinchuriki. Tsunade and I are going to be taking out Orochimaru." He informed his pupil who snapped his book shut at the information.

"Take on the Ichibi's host, eh? How much scarier than Yugito-chan do you think he might be?" Paling at the mentioning of that woman, Jiraiya thought back to when she and Naruto had met after he tried to peep on her, resulting in him being burnt in some very unfortunate places.

"Having seen that woman set fire to water without blinking, I don't think he'll be that much scarier."

The two shared a good laugh at that, having effectively broken Naruto out his bad mood.

**A/N: Well, this one was 13k words long. Hope you enjoyed it. More to come soon. **


	4. 4: The Invasion Begins

Chapter 4.

A pair of dark eyes narrowed. His mark had been acquired. It was now time to strike. Reaching for his Tanto, the male figure jumped, unsheathing it mid-air, before striking down at his target – only for his target to poof into a log. _'What a quick substitution.'_ The assassin mused, immediately turning to his left to see his target casually standing on the rooftop across from him.

"And who might you be?" The target asked without a care in the world, his head slightly tilted for his glasses to reflect the moonlight and conceal his eyes.

"Who I am is unimportant. What is important is that your execution has been ordered by Danzo-sama."

Kabuto raised an interested eyebrow as his opponent, a Genin from the exam he recalled, unravelled a scroll which suddenly sprouted a rather fierce looking tiger seemingly made from ink.

"Oh? Interesting. Well, come then." Kabuto said as his palms were engulfed with a visible layer of chakra. Sai was immediately upon him, faster than Kabuto had ever seen a Genin move. He narrowly dodged the vertical strike from the ROOT agent's blade, immediately counter attacking with viciously accurate stabs from his hands.

Sai seemed to be aware of his ability with the bastardized version of a medic's Chakra Scalpels and neatly dodged, trying to herd Kabuto into the bared fangs of his ink tiger.

Kabuto smirked. "Not bad."

* * *

It had been a month. One month of the hardest and most intense work Naruto had ever undergone. Not only did he experience unreal physical levels of exhaustion, his mental capacities were strained double time by none other than the harshest task master he had ever known: Jiraiya the Sannin.

Such thoughts floated through his mind as he lay on the ground panting, tired, bruised and battered with said man standing over him.

"How're your arms, kiddo?" Jiraiya asked with genuine concern.

"How were yours after a certain blonde Sannin caught you trying to use me to look mature and responsible to hit on some hot girl you had a hard-on for?" Naruto bit back instantly, sitting up slowly.

"Hmm, I can relate then." Jiraiya casually replied before grabbing a shirtless Naruto around the waist and hoisting him over the large shoulders, only to drag him to the nearby river and dump him in it unceremoniously. Too tired to meld any chakra successfully, Naruto plunged straight through the water's surface to be swallowed by its refreshingly cool depths.

Moments later he surfaced, letting out a sigh of contentment as he started floating on the water's surface, facing the sky and letting the sun warm him.

His eyes trailed down his chest to the seal faintly visible on his stomach. Everything seemed to be in order, his father's seal as strong as ever.

Slowly turning his head to observe the special seals on his arm, Naruto's thoughts drifted to what would be happening in two days' time and all he had done in the past month.

Unfortunately said thoughts were broken by the impact of Jiraiya into the water right next to him, the man making some sort of gurgling sound as he proceeded to break the tranquillity of Naruto's relaxation and contemplation.

Naruto sighed. It appeared as if the Ero-sennin had been caught peeping on the women bathing by the water fall a few hundred meters up the stream.

A minute or two later the Sannin emerged with a highly satisfied smile on his face, completely ignorant of the large two bumps his head sprouted from his customary beating.

"You ready to leave?" Naruto asked in exasperation as his hunger made itself known through a loud rumble.

* * *

"If all competitors except for Naruto and Hyuuga Neji could please proceed to the balcony so we can get this show on the read, then." The Jonin named Genma requested.

Sasuke walked past Naruto and gave him a minute nod of acknowledgement, which the blonde simply returned with a smirk. The only way for them to fight was for both to reach the finals, something Sasuke aspired to do. He knew he had improved leaps and bounds over the last month of intense training and wanted to see how he measured up against the strongest peer he knew of.

Naruto now wore a plain black long sleeve sweater with an orange spiral on his chest, much like Kakashi preferred to wear under his vest. The sleeves were pushed up to his elbows. Well-fitting black shinobi pants were taped at the top of his sandals.

He turned to face his opponent, Neji, who stood a few meters away with a look of utter confidence as he regarded everything around him to be beneath him. Cracking his neck and loosening his shoulders, Naruto crossed his arms as Genma went over the rules again.

"Fight!"

Naruto didn't move, his arms still crossed, regarding his opponent with calculating eyes. Neji stared back unflinchingly.

The crowd grew silent in anticipation.

"Any last words?" Neji taunted with confidence, a ghost of a smirk dancing along his mouth as he saw Naruto narrow his eyes.

"Yeah," Naruto spoke evenly, before vanishing instantly and reappearing behind Neji , brandishing a kunai, "fuck you."

Neji's pale eyes widened as his brain tried to process the fact that Naruto was now behind him. Sheer reflex allowed him to barely dodge the swipe at his neck. Neji leapt backwards, activating his Byakugan along the way. Once more he found himself surprised as he was surrounded by ten copies of Naruto, having formed a casual ring around him.

One of them, presumably the real one, spoke, "Y'know Neji, I did a bit of research on you and the famed Hyuuga Clan before today. A pretty impressive history, riddled with tales of great battles and of course, your famed Kekkei genkai, the Byakugan or as some like to call it, the All-Seeing Eye, and by proxy the ability to use the Gentle Fist Taijutsu style."

Narrowing his eyes, Neji scanned around him in an attempt to locate the real one in order to make the most of free time his opponent was giving him.

Naruto seemed completely oblivious of the fact and merely continued, "What intrigued me more though, was the internal clan structure that persists to this day. A Main Branch and a Cadet Branch with the Cadets essentially being no more than glorified slaves to the Main Branch, bearing a seal to, and I quote, 'prevent the Byakugan from falling into the hands of enemies should a Hyuuga die in battle.' And this is where I'd like to point out your hypocrisy about your little 'fate' talk."

Growing annoyed, Neji spat, "And what would you know? You're a nobody, you don't even have a last name! Fate has decreed that I will utterly defeat you right here, right now. You cannot escape fate."

Once more, Naruto ignored him and continued on casually, "You see, it is the duty of every Cadet Branch member to protect the Main Branch with their very lives if needed, which is exactly what your father did to protect his twin brother, the current head of the clan: Hyuuga Hiashi."

By now Naruto had captivated the entire audience with his story. Up in the stands several of the Hyuuga Clan looked surprised and angered at a mere Genin being privy to this information and making it public.

"Shut your mouth you-" Neji angrily demanded, before being cut off by Naruto.

"And that's where the hypocrisy comes in. You tried to kill Hyuuga Hinata. While it is arguable that the immediate rules of the preliminary exam took precedence over your Clan's laws, a good Cadet Branch member would have never acted like you did even in the presence of the Hokage who ordered you to stand down. In fact, I'm sure that many of them would have forfeited straight up in order to further the Main Branch's member's career. After all, that is your _fate_, is it not? The seal on your forehead would be proof of that, I believe. Your fate, by your own logic, is servitude. If everyone is bound by fate, then why do you struggle so much against your own by hating on your cousin so much, hmm?"

Naruto took a breath before his face turning very grim. "And me knowing shit about fate? Trust me, I know a lot about fate. Mine's far heavier than yours. And you know what? Screw that, I'll make my own fate." Naruto's clones cracked their knuckles and started their charge. "Oh, and about me being a nobody? We'll see about that."

Sliding into the basic Gentle Fist stance, Neji started fighting the clones. He was surprised at their agility, speed and power. He ducked under a round house kick and barely managed to divert a kick aimed at his midsection, not even giving him time to attempt and dispel a single clone. His mouth twitched in discomfort as he felt the power of the kicks behind the blond clones attacks and wondered how hard the original would hit.

Growing tired of the constant dodging, he leapt backwards to dodge an overhead axe kick before his eyes blazed in determination. _'No choice, I have to use it.'_

"Kaiten!" He yelled out as he immediately began rotating on the spot, expelling chakra through his tenketsu points, blowing away all of the clones surrounding him and destroying them.

In the stands a certain clan head's eyes widened in surprise at the technique.

"Not bad, not bad at all." Naruto drawled. "I respect your seriousness in fighting me and by such will show you the same courtesy."

Naruto mentally prepared himself. A Hyuuga would be ultimate test for Jiraiya's style of Taijutsu.

Rushing in straight up was the least thing Neji expected – no one except for Gai or Lee were dumb enough to challenge a Hyuuga head on in close combat.

Dodging Naruto's fist, Neji launched a rapid combination of basic Gentle Fist strikes, his palms glowing faintly.

Much to his surprise, Naruto sidestepped the flurry of strikes before landing a firm back-handed strike across the Hyuuga's face.

This continued for a while. Neji would attempt to strike Naruto in rapid succession, who would retaliate by narrowly dodging and countering extremely quickly, attacking from angles that took advantage of Neji's extended form which would make them unable to be blocked.

Neji growled. He would have to reveal his other ace in the hole as he couldn't land a single clean strike on Naruto. Another one of his palm strike patterns was barely evaded before he felt his blonde opponent grab onto his wrist. With a strong tug, Neji lost balance and fell forward, his abdomen directly colliding with the incoming knee strike from Naruto.

Coughing up spit from the strike, Neji found his balance before ripping his arm out of Naruto's grip and leaping away. His activated eyes saw Naruto's chakra flare for a moment and his eyes widened as he saw the blonde appear behind him before a hard elbow strike hit the Hyuuga prodigy in the jaw.

Neji could feel the blood in his mouth from a split lip as he stood up and wearily regarded his enemy. Naruto seemed content to let Neji regain his breath.

"Not so superior anymore, huh?" Naruto asked rhetorically. "You see, the weakness of the Byakugan and the Gentle Fist style is the same as the Uchiha's Sharingan: speed. You can see whatever you want but it's all useless if your body can't keep up with. And by the same token, what you can't keep up with you can't hit, especially since your Taijutsu requires precision clear shots at vitals. Let me show you what a nobody like me can do. I'm no genius, I'm just a hard worker. You're about to learn the difference between you and me."

Naruto's proclamation had inspired two green-spandex clad shinobi to cry and hug each other while yelling at the top of their lungs yet his next display would silence them in shock.

Wriggling his fingers and toes, Naruto channelled his chakra into his limbs and then took off, far faster than earlier. Neji saw him clearly, flying at him at unreal speeds. Before Neji had even raised his arms to block, Naruto's kick impacted into his side, sending him flying a few meters across the ground in a tumble.

Reacting faster this time, Neji bent his knees with one arm straightened and lowered to his knee-line and his other arm stretched out behind him. Hiashi in the stands immediately recognized the technique and raised his eyebrows in surprise. That, just like the Kaiten, was a Main Branch exclusive technique.

As Neji let the first two strikes of his technique fly, his eyes tracked his own fingers, almost moving towards the incoming body of Naruto in perceived slow motion. A mere centimetre before his index and middle finger could strike at Naruto's shoulder, the blonde twisted around his outstretched arm, letting his own elbow loose and strike into Neji's temple. Time seemed to stand still as Neji lost all his momentum and flew off his feet, impacting into the solidary tree located in the arena.

Neji struggled to not lose consciousness and give into the inviting darkness. _'I cannot lose to him! It's my fate to win!'_

"Not done yet? Not bad." Naruto said, once more kicking up dust as he leapt at the barely standing Neji whose eyes blazed in determination.

"Kaiten!" He exclaimed mid-rotation. Naruto was quite surprised that he still had enough left in him for one of those and barely managed to leap up to avoid the spinning chakra dome that would certainly hurt if he ran straight at it.

His hands flashed through a set of seals before he slammed his palm on the ground.

"Doton: Swamp of the Underworld!"

The area around the spinning Neji immediately turned into a swamp. Given the rotational effect of the technique, Neji automatically sunk deeper and deeper into the swamp. By the time he realized what was happening it was too late. The moment he cancelled the technique the heavy mud closed in around him and locked him in place with only his head sticking out of the ground.

His tired eyes spotted Naruto at the edge of the drying mud now that it had no chakra to sustain itself on. "That's what I call game, set, match. See, Neji, it's not about fate. It's not about names or blood lines. Everything can be beaten, everything can be countered – the only limitation you have is yourself. You have a pair of perfectly capable hands, command immediate respect with your Hyuuga name and have incredible resources available to you as both a ninja of this village and member of the Hyuuga clan. Your fate is what you build for yourself, what you fight and strive for day by day. I told you I'd beat you, and that wasn't predestined. That was the result of me working crazy hard for as far as I can remember. I made my own fate, as you just experienced. Sure, it's not fair that you're in the Cadet Branch and that your father had to sacrifice himself for the sake of your uncle. But, so what? As far as I read, it was your father's decision in the first place. He chose that fate for himself. We're both shinobi, we know that life isn't fair; it's just a matter of what we do with what we have. I hope you've learnt a lesson here."

With a nod to Genma, the senbon-chewing proctor smiled and announced, "Winner: Naruto!"

* * *

A bone-chilling scream echoed through the arena as Sasuke withdrew his now blood-covered hand from Gaara's shoulder.

Kabuto immediately worked on the wide area Genjutsu.

The invasion had begun.

An explosion in the Kage's box sounded through the arena, quickly followed by the dozens of clangs produced by metal hitting metal as the Konoha shinobi immediately engaged the Oto and Suna nins, who seemed taken aback by their preparedness.

Almost lazily, Kakashi slammed a kunai into the temple of a nearby Oto nin, before he leaned forward as if he were to pick up something from the ground, dodging a vicious kick the process. The Cyclops flicked his wrist, resulting in another kunai whizzing through the air, slicing through the airborne enemy's jugular vein.

The kunai continued its flight undeterred by the throat it had just sliced, only to be kicked by none other than the fabulous Maito Gai by the handle, launching it into the eye socket of an approaching Suna ninja.

In an almost comical fashion, Gai bent backwards at the waist and kicked another Oto nin in the chin, sending the man flying into the air where he was met by the airborne from of Kakashi who slammed his chakra enhanced elbow into the man's sternum, ending his life.

"Yosh! We make a most youthful duo, eternal rival of mine!" Gai exclaimed, punching another one in the throat before sending him into a nearby wall with a spinning kick.

"Hmm, you say something Gai?" Kakashi asked casually after having impaled two Suna nin with a pair of rock spikes.

"Curse you and your hip attitude, Kakashi!"

* * *

A gigantic serpent rammed its head into the outermost wall of Konoha, crumbling it in the process. Oddly enough, none of the nearby Leaf nin made a move to stop it, focusing on the enemy shinobi instead.

A lone figure strolled through the street, the fights around her raging in full force as she calmly walked towards the rampaging summon. Her green jacket fluttered in the wind generated by a nearby fight. The hungry snake seemed to notice her and decided on making her its first meal of the day.

Which, of course, had been the wrong decision.

Tsunade easily leapt to the side to dodge the gigantic head and fangs. Using a nearby building as a spring board, she catapulted herself into the air, high above the snake. Her hands were a blur and ended in a seal as she reached the apex of her flight.

Fights seemed to stop in the immediate vicinity as a tremendous chakra outline shone into view behind her, mimicking her movement.

Gravity took its natural course as Tsunade flew towards her target, her eyes blazing with determination, her huge chakra form behind her. Cocking back her right first, she slammed downward once in range.

"Divine Fist of Judgement!" She roared as her massively empowered fist and its chakra counterpart impacted on the snake's head, instantly crushing the summoned creature.

A large crater was left at the point of impact, which Tsunade walked out of nonchalantly. She didn't look winded, she didn't look hurt at all. In fact, she looked annoyed at best.

"Who else wants some?" She yelled, picking out the nearest Suna nin. With a burst of speed worthy of her S-Ranked status, she appeared at the terrified Suna nin's side, backhanding him with a chakra induced arm, his brain splattering all over the sidewalk.

And so, Tsunade began to systematically slaughter every nearby enemy, inspiring Konoha's forces to push the invaders out of their home.

* * *

Orochimaru growled. This wasn't going his way, at all. His plan had been to single out his former sensei, The God of Shinobi, Sarutobi Hiruzen. That part had worked out fine, his barrier had been erected by his Sound Four. What he hadn't counted on was the presence of Jiraiya, disguised as Sarutobi's assistant.

Sarutobi was old, yes, but his moniker had been given to him for a reason. Even though he was far past his prime, The God of Shinobi was still an S-Ranked ninja capable of giving anyone a run for their money. Orochimaru was no fool and knew that, which is why he had prepared his forbidden techniques to summon the aid of the past Kages and kill his old mentor once and for all.

Of course, his fool of a teammate, Jiriya, would have none of that and revealed himself the second Orochimaru used the technique, countering with that damned Swamp of the Underworld technique to drown away his half-summoned coffins and lose them forever.

While the loss of the technique in this fight would not have been that great of an issue as Orochimaru had been confident in defeat against Sarutobi without it, Jiraiya's presence was. While a perverted loudmouth of a fool, Jiraiya was also an S-Ranked ninja and was much closer to his prime than their shared sensei. And while he despised him, Orochimaru knew exactly that Jiraiya was powerful enough to battle him head on in an even fight.

Even with all his scientific additions and modifications to his entity, Orochimaru knew it'd be a matter of time before one of their combinations would work. Sarutobi knew more jutsu than even himself and Jiraiya was a genius in terms of unorthodox Ninjutsu and Fuinjutsu.

But, if he just fled now they would easily repel the rest of the invasion.

So Orochimaru decided to stall. Before he could even say a word, Hiruzen Sarutobi was upon him, viciously striking at his former student with determination burning in him to bring him to justice.

* * *

Naruto, on the other hand, was in a bit of a more chaotic dilemma. Gaara had transformed into some grotesque semi-humanoid and seemed to be having the time of his life in beating the stuffing out of Sasuke, who had followed him when Gaara had escaped the stadium with the aid of his siblings.

After Gaara had angrily thrown his siblings aside both his arms had started transforming into something that Sasuke was almost entirely sure wasn't human. Despite Gaara's newly acquired sluggish and bulky appearance, it did nothing to hinder his movement or agility; in fact, his speed seemed to increase with each angry leap the crazed Suna Genin made.

Sasuke's chakra resources were quickly dwindling, having already used a Chidori certainly didn't help. He had spent a lot of his previous month working on increasing his reserves, learning a few jutsu and improving his physical capabilities. Easily the fastest Genin of his entire graduating year, Sasuke could safely say that he could even match many Chunin in terms of physical prowess, but against this opponent it still wasn't enough. Along with his eyes Sasuke could read every move Gaara did before he actually did them, but the problem was that even if he could see them and even block in time, Gaara hit so hard that the only option was to dodge.

The Uchiha barely dodged another swipe of Gaara's tremendous right arm, only to get slammed by Gaara's other arm, sending him flying through several tree branches before coming to a stop against the trunk of a larger one.

'_Damn,' _Sasuke mused, _'is this how it ends? Here, against some crazy demon? If I couldn't beat him, there's no way I could ever take on Itachi…'_

He didn't have a drop of chakra left. He could feel the side of his neck stinging – the little mark Orochimaru left with whatever sorcery he performed was burning up. Much to Sasuke's surprise he could feel an oppressing presence in the back of his mind, weighing him down. The sound of snakes slithering rang in his ears but on an instinctual level, Sasuke knew there were no snakes around him.

As the presence became more forceful, Sasuke clutched his head and fought to not let out a low growl. He could feel Gaara a moderate distance away, obviously searching for him.

Gritting his teeth, Sasuke fumbled around his kunai holster attached to his leg… He could feel the power of the Snake Sannin getting stronger and stronger, whispering to him pleasures of power with just a not-so-subtle hint of insanity. Without Sasuke's prompt his Sharingan Eyes activated, which would have surprised him on any other day of the week given his lack of chakra. The tomoes in his eyes began to spin wildly and Sasuke felt his grasp on reality slip and slip, sending him into a frenzied panic.

He didn't want to lose his mind. He didn't want Orochimaru to get into his thoughts. He didn't want _his _power. He'd seen a Genin, of same age as himself, fight Orochimaru head to head and come out on top. Itachi, oh how he despised that name, had left the village in his pursuit of power, just like this voice in his head was trying to get him to. But he'd be _damned_ if he followed the footsteps of his bastard brother.

So, with his desperation growing stronger, Sasuke's shaky fingers found the ring at the end of one of his kunai's handles, sliding it out of the protective holster.

'_I won't let you have me!' _ He screamed resolutely in his mind, clumsily slicing through the seal with his kunai, letting out a grunt at the sensation of his blood spilling onto his shirt. Sasuke prayed he didn't cut deep enough to permanently injure himself, but he could feel the seal react. A loud screech reverbed through his mind, followed by a flash of pain. The last thing Sasuke felt was an odd sense of calm and pride, having fended off the dark influence and having made sure that his mind was his own and no one else's to play around with.

* * *

"And they call me crazy…" Naruto muttered under his breath. He was crouched next to Sasuke and had quickly bandaged the wound to prevent the Konoha nin from bleeding out right there and then. "But I gotta admit, it takes a lot of balls and perhaps some stupidity to just physically attempt to destroy a seal of Orochimaru's creation."

Without making a hand sign, a clone popped into existence who picked Sasuke up piggy back style. "Find Ero-Sennin, tell him what happened."

And so the clone hopped away. Just in time too, as Naruto was already in a flurry of motion as he ducked under a violent swipe from Gaara's demonic arm.

"Why hello there Gaara, long time no see!" He remarked as he dodged another swipe. A flick of his hands later and they were covered in his trademark gauntlets. Naruto wriggled his fingers a top a tree's branch, relishing in the smooth sensation of his gloves coating his fingers. He glanced down at his clones fighting Gaara who had not yet realized that the one dodging his assault was just a clone. The real Naruto formed two gauntlet covered fists, slamming the knuckles together; resulting in several lightning sparks flying through the air. A crackling sound could be heard as erratically flowing chakra covered his fists. A typical sign of lightning chakra.

"No idea if this'll work," Naruto said to himself, "but since sand is hypothetically derived from Earth manipulation, this _could_ work."

Right then his clone dispelled.

"Oh well. One way to find out, really."

**Author's note: **Sorry for the delay.


End file.
